Marcelino plea heard today at Manila RTC

MANILA, Philippines – The Manila regional trial court is set to hear today the plea of Marine Lt. Col. Ferdinand Marcelino for dismissal of the drug case filed by the Department of Justice (DOJ) against him last week.

The Manila RTC Branch 17 has set the hearing at 9:30 a.m. with Marcelino and his co-accused, Chinese national Yan Yi Shou, appearing with Public Attorney’s Office chief Persida Rueda-Acosta as counsel.

The DOJ will send a high-level panel of prosecutors composed of Senior Deputy State Prosecutor Richard Anthony Fadullon, Senior Assistant State Prosecutor Juan Pedro Navera and Asstistant State Prosecutor Alexander Suarez to present its case.

The court will specifically hear the motion of Marcelino and Yan seeking deferment of issuance of arrest warrant and arraignment and also the earlier dismissal of the illegal drug possession charges against them by the DOJ.

The PAO argued that there was no probable cause to indict the accused and that issuance of the arrest warrant “would have dire consequences upon them, who will again be deprived of their liberty despite the weakness of the evidence against them.”

Marcelino and Yan, alias Randy, insisted that their arrest in a shabu facility in Sta. Cruz, Manila last Jan. 21 was illegal because they were working undercover.

They said they were only performing their lawful duties at the time of their arrest, when anti-narcotics agents seized nearly 77 kilograms of shabu.

The PAO further argued the arrests were illegal because it was not established that Marcelino and Yan exercised control over the premises where the illegal drugs were found.

In seeking dismissal of the case, PAO argued that the chain of custody of seized drugs was also not “properly preserved and safeguarded.”

Lastly, the PAO pointed out that it was also not in Marcelino’s character to engage in illegal drugs as he was a known intelligence operative.

It said his “commendable work of running after drug lords and shutting down drug laboratories have taken a huge toll and caused insurmountable losses to those unprincipled government officials who make a living out of the suffering of others.”