Former PDEA official Lt. Col. Ferdinand Marcelino escorted by PDEA agents after inquest proceedings at the Department of Justice. LYN RILLON
The bank deposit slips amounting to P2.25 million that were seized from former narcotics agent Lieutenant Colonel Ferdinand Marcelino were mostly intelligence funds, a spokesperson said on Monday.
“Lahat yang deposit slips pwede i-verify — some of it are personal, some are intelligence funds,” said retired Army Major Vonne Villanueva, Marcelino’s spokesperson and a former classmate at Philippine Military Academy Class of 1994.
Some of the deposit slips were dated back in 2014, when Marcelino was with the Military Intelligence Group (MIG)-4 in Southern Luzon.
The Anti-Illegal Drugs Group (AIDG) seized 13 pieces of bank deposit slips when Marcelino was arrested in an illegal drug laboratory last month.
The AIDG said they have coordinated with the Anti-Money Laundering Council (AMLC) to check on the financial transactions of Marcelino.
“Binalik sa amin ang deposit slips. Wala rin silang mapaggamitan,” Villanueva said.
He added that Marcelino is willing to sign a waiver for AMLC to check on his bank records for transparency.
Marcelino, a top drug buster in the mid-2000s, was arrested by authorities last Jan. 21 in an illegal drug laboratory in Sta. Cruz, Manila.
He insists that he was doing a legitimate intelligence operation at the time of the arrest. At that time, he was the newly assigned superintendent of the Naval Officer Candidate School at the Naval Education Training Command in Zambales.
Marcelino’s friends and colleagues are not convinced of the insinuations that the former drug buster has joined the illegal drug trade.