DIRECTOR General Arturo Cacdac Jr. of the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency on Sunday welcomed the decision of Justice Secretary Emmanuel Caparas to stay away from the detention transfer plea of Lt. Col. Ferdinand Marcelino, who was arrested in Sta.Cruz, Manila on drug charges.
Cacdac lauded the Justice department for its decision not to interfere with the issue of who should have custody or jurisdiction over Marcelino, but instead would abide by their mandate of determining probable cause to charge Marcelino and his co-accused Chinese national Yan Yi Shuo.
Marcelino, who is detained at Camp Bagong Diwa, Bicutan in Taguig City, requested his transfer to the Philippine Navy, citing safety and security reasons.
In response to Marcelino’s request, the investigating prosecutor, in a Jan. 29 letter, proposed his transfer to the National Bureau of Investigation, or to the Navy.
Cacdac wrote Theodore Villanueva, senior deputy state prosecutor, and objected to the latter’s proposal to transfer of Marcelino to NBI or the Navy.
“We respectfully oppose Marcelino’s transfer since the NBI’s detention center is not a regular jail facility in contemplation of the law. It serves only as a temporary lock-up facility, basically for its arrested persons. Also, our State, at present has specifically created regular jail facilities in the entire country when it enacted Republic Act No. 6975, [or the Department of Local Government Act of 1990] as further amended by RA 9263 [or the Bureau of Fire Protection and BJMP Professionalization Act of 2004],” Cacdac said.
“In the conduct then of the arrest, delivery of Marcelino and Shuo to proper authorities, inquest and preliminary investigation of the charges against them, the provisions of the present Revised Rules on Criminal Procedure, in relation to Section 125 of Revised Penal Code, as amended, serve as the legal basis.”