MARINE Lt. Colonel Ferdinand Marcelino on Wednesday asked a Manila Regional Trial Court to lift the warrant of arrest it issued against him in connection with the drug case filed by authorities because the evidence was planted.
Marcelino asked the judge of Manila RTC Branch 49 to reconsider his order on Dec. 22 issuing the warrants for his arrest and that of his Chinese companion Yan Yi Shou alias Randy.
He made his plea even as Yan turned himself in to the National Bureau of Investigation Tuesday night hours after Marcelino surrendered to the AFP Provost Marshall in Camp Aguinaldo, Justice Secretary Vitaliano Aguirre II announced Wednesday.
Marcelino said the court erred in ruling that he and Yan failed to give a credible account of their presence in an apartment in Santa Cruz, Manila, where they were arrested in an anti-drug operation in January last year by police operatives.
That raid resulted in the seizure of P380 million worth of shabu.
Marcelino said he was found on the ground floor of the apartment and that no illegal drugs were confiscated from him. He said there was no evidence that he had any knowledge on or control of the illegal drugs found on the property.
His plea to lifting the arrest warrant against him aside, he also pleaded to dismiss the charges against him for lack of probable cause.
Marcelino has attributed his ordeal to then PDEA chief Arturo Cacdac whom he accuses of being “historically irate” at his continuing involvement in the government’s anti-drug campaign.
He said he and Yan had been able to “exhaustively give a credible account” of their presence in the premises where they were arrested.
He also told the court that before proceeding to the area, he even coordinated with PDEA Director Randy Pedroso and asked if there were similar operations in the area to prevent a possible rumble in the gathering of information that might compromise the operation.
He said he was conducting an operation in that area against those involved in the illegal drug trade based on the information provided by Yan.
He deemed it necessary not to share the information provided by Yan since it had to be verified.
“Having done many covert intelligence operations in the past, Lt. Col. Marcelino thought it best to verify the information given by Randy,” he said.