Drug-linked officer vows to tell the truth on De Lima

Sen. Leila de Lima. LYN RILLON/INQUIRER FILE PHOTO

“I will tell the truth in whatever forum.”

This was the response of Lt. Col. Ferdinand Marcelino when asked by a reporter on Friday if it was correct to say he would not testify against Sen. Leila de Lima on her alleged drug links.

Marcelino spoke to reporters before he and his lawyer Public Attorney’s Office chief Persida Acosta, filed an urgent motion with Branch 17 of the Manila Regional Trial Court to suspend the issuance of a warrant of arrest against the former Marine officer and to defer his arraignment for alleged violation of the Dangerous Drugs Act until there is judicial determination of probable cause.

The information against Marcelino—which was dismissed by the Department of Justice’s Senior Deputy State Prosecutor Theodore Villanueva on May 23 but was reversed later by Assistant State Prosecutor Alexander Suarez upon appeal by the Philippine National Police and the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency—was in connection with his arrest in a raid on a suspected drug den in Sta. Cruz, Manila, in January.

Marcelino, a known antidrug crusader, insisted he and his informant, Yan Yi Shou, were in the townhouse where suspected drugs were found because they, too,  were involved in  a legitimate drug operation.

Asked what that “truth” was, Persida spoke on behalf of her client and said it could not be divulged yet.

“A Marine will not talk without approval especially in Congress. You need to have immunity before you talk… What if someone retaliates, there are already people who they say are threatening to retaliate,” Acosta said without elaborating.