De Lima wary of Marcelino after DOJ clears Marine of drug raps

Senator Leila de Lima on Friday said she would not be surprised if Marine Lt. Col. Ferdinand Marcelino will be forced to “lie” due to “pressure or threat coming from the tyrant and his minions.”

“I think Marcelino still has honor, and whatever lies he is forced to tell are not easy for him to declare, if not for some overwhelming pressure or threat coming from the tyrant and his minions,” De Lima said in a statement.

“This regime of the worst and dumbest is already famous for turning men of integrity against their sworn duties and word of honor, and making the stupidest and most incompetent ‘honorables,’ with their titles and positions,” she added.

De Lima issued the statement after the Department of Justice (DOJ) withdrew the drug charges against Marcelino and his Chinese companion pending before a Manila court.

Reports say Marcelino is willing to testify against De Lima, who is presently detained at the PNP Custodial Center in Camp Crame for her alleged involvement in the proliferation of illegal drugs.

“By now, I am so used to this regime’s habit of blaming the whole illegal drug industry on me as the supposed number one drug lord,” De Lima said.

“It is the highest honor to be persecuted by a kakistocracy. More so if that regime of incompetents and dullards continues to see you, a laing-cooking Lola from Iriga who is already in jail, as still the single most significant threat to their stupidity or impotence,” the senator from Bicol added.

Last year, De Lima claimed that Marcelino was being pressured to make up stories against her to further link her to illegal drugs.

The colonel supposedly said that he was being convinced by some groups to make "fabricated stories" about the senator.

Marcelino’s lawyer, Public Attorney's Office chief Persida Acosta, had since denied De Lima’s allegations. —NB, GMA News