A Manila trial court judge has inhibited from handling the drug case of bemedalled Marine Lt. Colonel Ferdinand Marcelino.
In a three-page order made public Tuesday, Judge Felicitas Laron Cacanindin, presiding judge of Branch 17 of the Manila RTC, inhibited from the case citing her association with former Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency chief Arturo Cacdac.
“After deliberations on matters that cropped up recently, herein Presiding Judge is voluntarily inhibiting herself to hear the instant case due to personal reasons,” Cacanindin said.
Cacanindin said Cacdac is the brother of her best friend in high school and that she and Cacdac both hail from La Union and even graduated from the same high school.
Cacdac was the PDEA chief when Marcelino and his Chinese companion Yan Yi Shou were arrested by anti-drug operatives in Manila last January.
Marcelino and Yan were charged with violation of Section 11 (possession of dangerous drugs) of Republic Act 9165 or the Comprehensive Dangerous Drugs Act of 2002.
At the onset, Cacanindin said she has no plans of inhibiting because she did not entertain any bias in favor of Cacdac but her attention was called recently by a friend and her relatives as to her association with the former PDEA, leading her to take a second look at the role of Cacdac in the incident.
“Accused Lt. Colonel Marcelino also alleged and pointed to General Cacdac as the very person who ordered his arrest despite his explanation of his presence at the target area of the search warrant implemented. It was averred that General Cacdac made Lt. Colonel Marcelino as a scapegoat for personal reasons and merely to gain,” she said.
“To erase any suspicion on the impartiality and objectivity of the undersigned as she is always been a believer of fair play and justice, she wishes to relieve/enjoin herself from hearing the case specially resolving the omnibus motion to quash information filed by the accused. This is a view of many whom she consulted professionally to which she fully subscribes,’ Cacandindin added.
Marcelino and Yan were arrested by a team from the Philippine National Police-Anti Illegal Drugs Group and the PDEA in an apartment in Sta. Cruz, Manila in January this year where P380 million worth of methamphetamine hydrochloride or “shabu” were confiscated.
The PNP-AIDG and the PDEA filed charges for possession of dangerous drugs and for the manufacture of dangerous drugs and attempt or conspiracy to commit unlawful acts against Marcelino and Yan.
Marcelino denied the charges and said he was in the apartment for a covert surveillance operation as a member of the Intelligence Service of the Armed Forces of the Philippines.
He even submitted a certification from the Philippine Army Intelligence Group showing that he is sharing information on the alleged involvement of Army personnel in the illegal drugs trade from September to December last year.
Marcelino said the root cause of his arrest was because Cacdac was “historically irate” at his continued involvement in the anti-drug campaign of the government.
Last June, the DOJ through Senior Deputy State Prosecutor Theodore Villanueva cleared Marcelino and Yan of all charges for insufficiency of evidence. PNP-AIDG and PDEA filed a motion for reconsideration which was granted by the DOJ.
The Manila RTC last September deferred the arraignment of Marcelino on the case citing the motion he filed has no probable cause to proceed with the trial of the case.
He also argued that the arrests were illegal since the arresting officers failed to establish that he and Yan have exercised control over the premises where the illegal drugs were found.
Likewise, he said the chain of custody of the seized illegal drugs were also not properly observed, preserved and safeguarded as had been mandated by law.