PDEA presses case vs former colleague

The Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) continues to cast doubts on Marine Lt. Col. Ferdinand Marcelino as it poked another hole in his claim that he was in a legitimate undercover operation when he was arrested in a suspected “shabu” (methamphetamine hydrochloride) laboratory in Manila.

In a statement sent to the media yesterday, PDEA Director General Arturo Cacdac said Marcelino and Chinese national Yan Yi Shou were allowed entry by the owner of the house in Barangay 350, Sta. Cruz, Manila, which was the subject of a drug-bust operation by the PDEA and the PNP on Jan. 21.

The operation yielded more than P300-million worth of shabu.

Authorities were surprised to see Marcelino, head of the PDEA Special Enforcement Service in the mid-2000s, and Shou, during the raid.

Marcelino, newly appointed superintendent of the Navy Officer Candidate School when he was arrested, has yet to present a mission order.

Cacdac said that based on the  testimonies of two security guards at the townhouse complex, Shou first tried to enter the compound at 1:24 a.m. but left after he was barred by the guards from entering because he had no permission from the tenant.

At 9:20 p.m. on the same day, one of the guards received a phone call from the house owner, identified as May Co, informing the guard to expect visitors aboard a Toyota Camry.

An hour after the call, the car arrived, driven by Shou, with Marcelino as passenger.

The guard said that when he requested Shou to open the car’s trunk for inspection, he saw four empty transparent plastic containers. He registered the driver’s name and the items inside the car’s trunk in the guard’s logbook.

“One thing is certain. Shou and Marcelino were allowed entry by Co to her unit. This alone establishes that the unit owner knew Shou and Marcelino,” Cacdac said.

It is not clear why Marcelino and Shou had a key to the unit.

Co and the Toyota Camry owner, identified as Hydee Uy, have been invited to the Anti-Illegal Drugs Group office to “shed light on the investigation.” But at press time, neither has shown up.