A COURT in Manila has ordered the arrest of Marine Lt. Col. Ferdinand Marcelino in connection with the drug case filed against him by the Justice department in September.
The court ordered the arrest of Marcelino, a former official of the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency, after dismissing his motion to dismiss the charges of possession of illegal drugs against him.
Authorities have also filed charges before the Justice department against three Chinese nationals and three Filipinos for manufacturing and distributing illegal drugs.
The National Bureau of Investigation said its agents had seized more than 890 kilograms of high grade shabu and arrested seven Chinese nationals and three Filipinos.
Marcelino and his co-accused, Chinese national Yan Yi Shou, are questioning their arrest in Sta. Cruz, Manila, last January and their indictment by the Justice department.
They insist they were inside the seized shabu laboratory with nearly 77 kilograms of shabu only because they were conducting an intelligence operation at the time.
Marcelino claims he was in the apartment for a covert surveillance operation as a member of the Intelligence Service of the Armed Forces of the Philippines.
He even submitted a certification from the Philippine Army Intelligence Group showing that he was sharing information on the alleged involvement of Army personnel in the illegal drugs trade from September to December last year.
Marcelino says he was arrested because PDEA chief Arturo Cacdac was “historically irate” at his continued involvement in the government’s anti-drug campaign.
But the court rejected his defense and upheld the finding of probable cause by the Justice department.
