Detained colonel to go on hunger strike

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”). INQUIRER FILE PHOTO / NINO JESUS ORBETA

Detained Marine Col. Ferdinand Marcelino, a former drug enforcement official who was arrested in a drug bust last week,  Wednesday said he would go on a hunger strike until he is freed, insisting he was in the drug laboratory as an “undercover” agent.

“I will go on hunger strike until I regain my freedom,” a defiant Marine Lt. Col. Ferdinand Marcelino said Wednesday at the end of the first hearing of the preliminary investigation at the Department of Justice (DOJ) regarding the criminal charges filed by the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) against him.

Marcelino, accompanied by his lawyer Dennis Manalo, submitted to DOJ state prosecutor Theodore Villanueva Jr. an eight-page counter-affidavit denying the accusations of manufacturing, conspiring to manufacture and possession of dangerous drugs filed by PDEA.

Manalo clarified that the P86,000 cash found in Marcelino’ possession was personal money of the Marine colonel intended for the medication of his ailing wife.

The Marine officer and an alleged informant, Yan Yi Shuo, were arrested during a raid by the PDEA and the Philippine National Police Anti-Illegal Drugs Group raid last Jan. 21 at Celadon Residences in Sta. Cruz, Manila where about 76 kilos of shabu were seized.

In his statement, Marcelino said he was undercover and hunting for a drug lord when arrested. He also said the “charges are based on lies and falsehoods fabricated out of spite and antagonism against me.”