Busted ex-PDEA official Marcelino not under Palace orders–PAOCC

The Presidential Anti-Organized Crime Commission (PAOCC) has clarified that Lt. Col. Ferdinand Marcelino, a former director of the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) arrested in a drug raid on Thursday, was not authorized by their group to conduct a drug operation.

READ: Top narc busted: Say it ain’t so, Col. Marcelino

In a statement on Friday, PAOCC executive director Gen. Reginald Villasanta said Marcelino “is not and has never been an operative detailed to the PAOCC.”

“Our records likewise show that no ongoing PAOCC operations involve Lt. Col. Marcelino,” he added.

READ: PH Navy not aware of Marcelino’s presence in Manila drug raid

Villasanta was reacting to reports that Marcelino, who served as director of PDEA’s Special Enforcement Service in the mid-2000s, claimed that he was conducting official business supposedly under Palace orders when he was nabbed by authorities in an apartment in Sta. Cruz, Manila.

Marcelino, a Marine officer under the Philippine navy, denied his involvement with drug syndicates and illegal operations, saying that he was undertaking a “legitimate intelligence project” to “verify information.”

READ: Former PDEA official nabbed says he’s doing ‘intelligence work’

Combined operatives of PDEA and the Philippine National Police arrested Marcelino along with a Chinese national on Thursday and confiscated P320 million worth of methamphetamine hydrochloride or “shabu.” CDG