MANILA, Philippines – Hours before his release from detention, Marine Lieutenant Colonel Ferdinand Marcelino looked overwhelmed. He appeared to be both delighted and shocked by his sudden freedom since he voluntarily surrendered to the Armed Forces of the Philippines last January and got confined at Camp Aguinaldo, the military headquarters in Quezon City.
In an interview with reporters late Thursday afternoon, Marcelino admitted that while he was incarcerated, he had thought of taking revenge against his accusers, who alleged that Marcelino was in possession of P380-million worth of crystal meth when authorities found him and his alleged Chinese companion Yi Shou Yan at a house in Sta. Cruz, Manila in January 2016.
How could he be charged of being linked to illegal drugs when he had devoted most of his professional life in helping the government get rid of the drug menace, which included the 2008 arrest of the so-called “Alabang Boys” for the alleged possession and sale of narcotics.
“I can honestly say, and look you in the eye, I was just doing my job… this is the price I have to pay for my love of this country,” Marcelino said last year as he explained that he was found at the house in Sta. Cruz because he was on a secret mission for the military.
But Marcelino said four months of detention had changed him a great deal as it healed his heart and turned his vindictiveness to forgiveness.
“‘Yon palang forgiveness mas makapangyarihan kaysa vengeance,” said the former Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) official, whose drug case was junked by the Department of Justice (DOJ), paving the way for the Manila Regional Trial Court-Branch 49 to order his release the same day. The DOJ also dismissed the charges against Yi Shou Yan, who is also expected to be released from detention soon.
Marcelino said he had not yet thought of any moves against his accusers such as filing counter-charges against them. “Di pa pumapasok sa isip ko.”
Asked how was his life in prison, Marcelino said living behind bars made him like a living dead. “Pag nakakulong ka pala, para kang namatay.”
Early Thursday, Public Attorneys Office chief Persida Acosta, Marcelino’s legal counsel, said the former PDEA official was willing to testify against detained former Justice secretary and now Senator Leila De Lima on the drug charges filed against her by the DOJ.
”Anytime sabi niya, he can testify. Pero kung ano ang ite-testify niya, hindi natin alam. Abangan na lang natin ang mangyayari if the government will utilize him in the Bilibid drug case,” Acosta told reporters.
[He said he could testify anytime. But as to what his testimony will be, that’s what we don’t know yet. Let’s just wait for what will happen next if the government will utilize him in the Bilibid drug case.]
De Lima last year said Marcelino was being pressured to testify against her
In September last year, De Lima, who was not yet detained at that time, claimed that Marcelino was being pressured to testify against her alleged role in the proliferation of drugs inside the New Bilibid Prison.
De Lima said she had received two of Marcelino’s text messages dated July 19 and September 5, 2016, which were forwarded to her by a person whom she and Marcelino both knew. In the messages, Marcelino allegedly told his classmate (mistah) at the Philippine Military Academy (PMA) that he was fearing for his life.
“Mistah good pm. Magpasalamat lang sana ako sa lahat ng tulong at efforts mo for me habang ako ay nasa kulungan. I can never thank you enough mistah. Hindi pa ako masyado makagalaw at labas ngayon dahil ang dami gusto kumatay sa akin, bok,” read the text message supposedly sent by Marcelino to his PMA classmate in July 2016.
[Classmate, good afternoon. I just want to thank you for all your help and efforts while I was still inside prison. I can never thank you enough, classmate. I still can’t move and go out freely because many people want to kill me.]
“‘Di ko pa din mapuntahan si Senator LD (Leila De Lima) kasi ginagawan kami ng mga fabricated stories (I still can’t go to Senator Leila De Lima because they are fabricating stories about us.) There are also some groups who [are] trying to convince me to speak against her,” read the same message .
Another part read of the message read, “But rest assured na hindi ako pagagamit sa kanila mistah [I would not allow myself to be used], not only because I really appreciated and forever indebted sa inyo ni Ma’am, but because the people deserve no less than the truth and justice.”
The Sept. 5, 2016 message read, “”Mistah pressures against me are mounting and they would even reopen my case, but rest assured that I will never give in to them mistah. Please tell Senator Leila to keep faith and be strong.”
Before his voluntary surrender to the AFP in January 2017, Marcelino was detained in January 2016 on drug charges but he was released in June the same year after the DOJ, during the Aquino administration, dismissed the case for lack of evidence.
But the DOJ, acting on an appeal by the PDEA and the Philippine National Police, reconsidered its decision and filed an illegal possession of drugs case before the Manila court against Marcelino in September 2016, during the Duterte administration.
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