Lt. Col. Ferdinand Marcelino and PAO chief Atty. Persida Acosta hold a press conference in this Sept. 23, 2016 file photo. INTERAKSYON.COM
A Manila court heard Monday the motion filed by Lt. Col. Ferdinand Marcelino in connection with the illegal drugs charges he is facing, and suspended the issuance of a warrant of arrest.
The Manila Regional Trial Court Branch 17 also deferred the arraignment of Marcelino and his co-accused, a Chinese national whom government agents had used as translator.
The RTC gave the government 10 days to comment on the motions filed by Marcelino through his counsel, Public Attorney's Office chief Persida Acosta.
Acosta expressed confidence the government's case is weak against the Marine officer, whose intelligence work had in the past been recognized as crucial to busting illicit drug operations.
Acosta had helped Marcelino Friday morning in filing the urgent motion to stop the issuance of an arrest warrant, defer arraignment and seek a judicial determination of probable cause.
This, after the Justice department reversed its earlier decision clearing Marcelino of charges that he was working with a drug syndicate after being found at the scene of a Manila shabu warehouse busted last January by authorities. Marcelino had claimed he was there as part of his intelligence work.
He was detained for five months over this case, and ordered freed in June after the Department of Justice concluded the evidence against him was weak.
However, the DOJ recently reversed itself and filed charges in court against him.
Acosta, meanwhile, made it clear no politics was involved in the Marcelino case, especially considering speculations that the officer was being pressured to testify against Sen. Leila de Lima, against whom the Department of Justice is building a case. The senator is being accused by her successor, Justice Secretary Vitaliano Aguiree, of having coddled convicted drug lords at the national penitentiary in exchange for funds for her Senate run.
Click and watch the video report below:
http://www.interaksyon.com/article/132788/watch--manila-court-defers-issuance-of-warrant-vs-marcelino
No comments:
Post a Comment
Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.