Lawyer: Drug syndicates once kidnapped Marcelino’s daughter

Col. Ferdinand Marcelino, (center) the former director of the Special Enforcement Services of the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) was arrested by operatives of PDEA and the Philippine National Police at Felix Huertas corner Batangas streets in Sta. Cruz, Manila, January 21, 2016, in a drug bust operation Thursday which yielded P320 million worth of methamphetamine hydrochloride (“shabu”).  NINO JESUS ORBETA

Now it can be told.

Lt. Col. Ferdinand Marcelino’s daughter was once kidnapped by drug syndicates in order to get back at him, according to the lawyer of the Marine officer who was arrested during a raid of a shabu laboratory in Manila last week.

“Drug syndicates have gone to the extent of kidnapping his daughter. This is something known in the drug enforcement community. But hindi ito pinag-uusapan (this is not being talked about) that’s why nobody believes it,” Atty. Dennis Manalo revealed in an interview over television program ANC Headstart on Monday.

Manalo said he was at first hesitant to share the information on live television.

“It’s just too painful, too traumatic. I myself have been thinking whether I should disclose it,” he said.

The fate of Marcelino’s family had been an ongoing talk in military circles but nobody would confirm it on record due to the sensitivity of the issue.

This could be the reason why he has that intense “personal crusade” against drugs, said one military officer, a mistah of Marcelino from the Philippine Military Academy Class of 1994, who asked not to be named.

Reports circulated in 2009 that a daughter of an anti-narcotics agent from the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency had been kidnapped and raped. The agent was not identified for the protection of his family.

But PDEA later denied the reports, saying that the agent only panicked when his daughter went missing.

Combined operatives from the PDEA and the Philippine National Police were surprised to find Marcelino, who has led several high-profile anti-drug missions, in a drug bust operation last Thursday.

‘Do a lifestyle check’

Marcelino was arrested with Chinese national Yan Yi Shou, allegedly one of his trusted tipsters in PDEA.

Asked how the alleged tipster could have gained access to the drug laboratory, Manalo said: “The tipster had access because he had known people in Ongpin who are connected with (people) who have information who knows his activities…Obviously he was able to penetrate and get the trust and confidence of people operating the shabu laboratory. That’s what a drug informant is supposed to do.”

The counsel said that Marcelino does not doubt his tipster, known as Randy, who has worked with him in the past.

“If Colonel Marcelino and his tipster were about to do an illegal activity, why would they even register in the guardhouse before entering the facility? Wouldn’t they want it to enter also without being recorded? But as soon as they entered, they were subjected to the routine check of the guardhouse. The guard obtained their identification. It was logged in the record,” he said.

Manalo also dared authorities to conduct a lifestyle check on Marcelino.

“You can check who Col. Marcelino is — his bank accounts, does it involve people in drug dealing? He is still as poor as a rat up to now,” he said. ASU