PNP lawyer: Marcelino phoned De Lima, others after Manila raid

MARINE officer Lieutenant Colonel Ferdinand Marcelino has called up Senator Leila De Lima and two other ranking police and military officials in trying to wiggle his way out of potential drug charge, Atty. Enrico Rigor, Legal Division Chief of the Police’s Anti-Illegal Drugs Group (PNP-AIDG), said on Monday.

Rigor said it is unfair for Marcelino to accuse the police of planting evidence to link him in the P380-million worth of shabu seized in a drug raid in Manila early this year.

“How can you ‘plant’ P380-million worth of drugs,” Rigor told reporters.

He said when the police found Marcelino and his Chinese companion Yan Yi Shou inside the house on Felix Huertas Road in Manila, the former Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) intelligence officer tried to phone several people to back him in his claim that he has the authority to be in that area.

Marcelino said he was doing undercover work to confirm the existence of a drug laboratory when he and Yan were arrested by the police.

Aside from De Lima, Rigor said Marcelino also called the former head of the Intelligence Service of the military and now the Army chief, Major General Eduardo Año, and PDEA Director Randy Pedroso.

“We gave him time to produce the Coplan (Case Operations Plan) which will validate his claim that he was authorized to do undercover work,” Rigor said but noted that Marcelino failed to do so.

Senior Assistant Prosecutor Juan Pedro Navera added that to this date, Marcelino has not produced a Coplan to justify his presence in the area in Manila where the P380-million worth of drugs were seized.

Marcelino and Yan are facing a case for violation of the Comprehensive Dangerous Drugs Act before the Manila Regional Trial Court.

During Monday’s hearing, the Manila Court ordered the prosecution to comment on the several motions filed by Marcelino through the Public Attorneys Office (PAO).

Navera said actions of PAO is inconsistent because despite filing of various motions seeking the dismissal of the case against Marcelino and Yan, the public lawyer is questioning the jurisdiction of the Manila Court to handle the case.

“The fact that they are filing these motions are highly contradictory to their (PAO) claim that the court has no jurisdiction [to handle the case],” Navera said at a press conference.

He added that the resolution of the Quezon City Regional Trial Court allowing Marcelino to post bail has no bearing to the present case.

“We are not bound by the resolution of the (Quezon City RTC). We argued that even the QCRTC itself self that this is subject to additional evidence na makikita ng DOJ…The QC Court is mindful of its limits,” Navera said.

The prosecution was given by the Manila Court 10 days to comment on the motions filed by Marcelino.