The Philippine National Police-Anti-Illegal Drugs Group on Wednesday opposed the bid of the Department of Justice to move detained Marine Lt. Col. Ferdinand Marcelino out of Camp Bagong Diwa in Taguig City pending preliminary investigation on drug charges.
PNP-AIDG chief Sr. Supt. Manolo Ozaeta opposed the recommendation of investigating Senior Deputy State Prosecutor of the Bureau of Jail Management and Penology for the transfer of Marcelino to the custody of the National Bureau of Investigation or the Philippine Navy of which he is in the active service.
“Allowing the transfer of LTC Marcelino will commence a bad precedent and open the floodgate of similar requests from members of the AFP [Armed Forces of the Philippines] who are now languishing in jails,” Ozaeta said.
“To address negative public perception that respondent LTC Marcelino enjoys special treatment while in detention, it is best to detain him pending preliminary investigation at the BJMP facility,” the PNP-AIDG official said.
As to the concern raised by the DoJ on security and safety of Marcelino in Camp Bagong Diwa where detained drug suspects were arrested, the PNP-AIDG official believes that BJMP is “highly capable and specially trained” to handle the situation.
In a related development, Marcelino’s co-respondent Yan Yi Shuo also insisted he was innocent of the drug charges filed against him by the PNP-AIDG in a counter-affidavit submitted to the DoJ in hearing yesterday.
According to Yan, he is an “action agent” of the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency and that his presence in the raided drug facility was also part of a covert operation.