PNP, PDEA ask DOJ to reconsider Marcelino drug case dismissal

The Philippine National Police (PNP) and the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) on Tuesday asked the Department of Justice to reconsider its dismissal of drug charges against Marine Lt. Col. Ferdinand Marcelino, who was nabbed in a drug raid in Parañaque City in January.

In a joint omnibus motion, the PNP and PDEA also asked investigating prosecutor Theodore Villanueva to inhibit from the case, saying another prosecutor should resolve the case "to remove any doubt on the integrity and correctness" of the ruling.

"Considering that the questioned resolution was made, recommended and approved by one and the same aforementioned prosecutor, we could not deny the feeling that he who maliciously and erroneously interpreted the application of the prevailing laws and jurisprudence could live with the requirement of cold neutrality of an impartial prosecutor," read the motion.

The PNP and PDEA said Villanueva violated Section 4, Rule 112 of the Rules of Court because he failed to secure a signature of approval from his superior, Prosecutor General Claro Arellano, who heads the National Prosecution Service.

In his resolution, Villanueva reommended the dismissal of the case against Marcelino "for insufficiency of evidence without prejudice to whatever evidence the PNP and the PDEA would again submit to corroborate their complaint."

Also cleared was Yan Yi Shou alias Randy, a Chinese national who was arrested with Marcelino during the drug raid.

The DOJ dismissed the complaint after the probers supposedly failed to present evidence that Marcelino and Yan had prior knowledge of what was to be found inside the house that was raided and what they intend to do with the contents of the house.

In its joint omnibus motion, the PNP and PDEA submitted a transcription of the self-recorded telephone conversation between Marcelino and Yan showing that they planned to transfer the drugs inside the laboratory because they thought the PDEA was monitoring the area. The conversation also revealed that the two planned to hand the drugs over to a certain Tony.

The PNP and PDEA agreed with the DOJ's observation that Marcelino was found at the house just sitting on a couch without any other overt act of exercising dominion and control over the illegal drugs that were found at the second floor.

"But it is the circumstances under which he party was found and his conduct, which when taken together can produce moral conviction that the accused must have participated in the commission of the offense," said the PNP, saying the presence of illegal drugs and laboratory equipment in the house where Marcelino was found constituted "prima facie" proof of his liability.

The complainants said the fact that Marcelino and Yan had possession of the key to the house show they are "in full control of the subject premises."

Marcelino, a former official of the PDEA, and Yan were arrested on January 21 during a raid in a shabu laboratory in Sta. Cruz, Manila. Marcelino claimed he was performing surveillance work when arrested.

The NBI, in two letters submitted to the DOJ, had earlier said that while Marcelino had indeed been tapped to help in the bureau's anti-illegal drugs operations, his supposed surveillance in the Manila townhouse was not among those coordinated with the NBI.

Yan had claimed he was the one who tagged along Marcelino, whom he met while an "action agent" of the PDEA, to check out the town house which he [Yan] suspected to contain illegal drugs. —KBK, GMA News