Ex-PDEA interpreter one of two Chinese shot dead in Manila

A former interpreter for the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) was one of the two Chinese nationals shot dead minutes after stepping out of detention in Manila over the weekend. 

Yi Shuo Yan, who was arrested and charged with drug possession with Lieutenant Colonel Ferdinand Marcelino in 2016, fell to riding-in-tandem assailants last Saturday, according to a report by Raffy Tima on Balitanghali on Tuesday. 

Yan and Marcelino, a former PDEA official, were caught during a raid in a shabu laboratory in Sta. Cruz, Manila in January 2016. Marcelino claimed he was performing surveillance work when arrested for possession of 76.7 kilograms of shabu and 490 milliliters of liquid shabu. Yan on the other hand said he was acting as an "action agent", which was denied by PDEA.

They were detained until a Manila court ordered their release after the Department of Justice withdrew charges against them in 2017.

Also killed in last Saturday's shooting was Wu Huai Hong, who along with Marcelino's alleged cohort had just walked out on bail from the Manila Police District Headquarters after a few days' detention over a complaint for direct assault, resisting arrest, and alarm and scandal, according to the report.

Police are considering the possibility of the duo's involvement in the drug trade.

"It turned out na itong dalawang Chinese na ito are allegedly involved in drug peddling, big time. We're looking into that possibility na drug war ito," said Philippine National Police chief Director General Oscar Albayalde.

Police Superintendent Carlo Magno Manuel, spokesperson of the MPD, said the two had been involved in illegal drugs in 2015 and that police are finding out if they were on PDEA's drug watch list. —Nicole-Anne C. Lagrimas/KG, GMA News