Judge in Marcelino drugs case inhibits self for ‘personal reasons’

THE MANILA judge presiding over the illegal drugs case of Lt. Colonel Ferdinand L. Marcelino and Chinese national Yan Yi Shou on Tuesday has inhibited herself from the said case.

Felicitas O. Laron-Cacanindin, presiding judge of Manila Regional Trial Court Branch 17, issued on Nov. 11 a three-page order that said she was “voluntarily inhibiting herself to hear the instant case due to personal reasons.”

The case stemmed from a shabu facility raid in Sta. Cruz, Manila, on Jan. 21 where Messrs. Marcelino and Yan, who claimed to be working in tandem with the military officer, were arrested on Jan. 21. Mr. Marcelino, who had a track record of high-profile arrests during his stint at the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA), said he was on a covert operation for the military during that incident.

In June, the Department of Justice (DOJ) dismissed the case against Messrs. Marcelino and Yan, with Senior Deputy State Prosecutor Theodore Villanueva saying the “evidence so far presented by the PNP (Philippine National Police) and PDEA [were] insufficient of the required evidence to sustain a conviction during the trial on the merits of the case.”

But three months later, the DOJ reversed this dismissal after granting the PNP’s motion for reconsideration which went in part: “In preliminary investigation, the investigating prosecutor should only determine whether or not there is probable cause in the complaint filed against the accused and not proof beyond reasonable doubt.”

“It is worthy to note that Senior Deputy State Prosecutor Theodore Villanueva had erroneously dismissed the case because what he is looking for is not the existence of probable cause but proof beyond reasonable doubt,” the motion also read.

‘SLEEPLESS NIGHTS’

Ms. Laron-Cacanindin in her order noted that former PDEA Director General Arturo G. Cacdac, Jr. “is the brother of [my] best friend in high school.”

“Admittedly, undersigned and Gen. Cacdac hail from La Union and they graduated from the same high school,” she added.

“Actually, at the outset, this fact entered her mind,” Ms. Laron-Cacanindin also said in her order referring to herself in the third person. “However, she did not entertain any bias towards Gen. Cacdac because, she thought Gen. Cacdac only performed his functions as the then Director General of PDEA and he had nothing to do with the case nor arrest of Lt. Col. Marcelino.”

Ms. Laron-Cacanindin said “she continued reading and studying the voluminous pleadings submitted. In fact, it took its tool on her health that she got sick due to sleepless nights as she brought home copies of the documents filed to be read and studied.”

Meanwhile, “her attention was called by well-meaning friends and relatives as to her association with Gen. Cacdac that she decided to take a second look at the very role Gen. Cacdac had in the instant case.”

“Lo and behold, accused Lt. Col. Marcelino alleged and pointed to Gen. Cacdac as the very person who ordered his arrest despite his explanation of his presence at the target area of the Search Warrant implemented,” the order further read, adding:

“It was averred that Gen. Cacdac made Lt. Col. Marcelino as a scapegoat for personal reasons and merely to gain.”

‘ANIMOSITY’

It will be recalled that Mr. Marcelino, days following his arrest, said his arrest was “borne solely” from Mr. Cacdac’s “animosity” towards him.

“Maybe he detests my criticism that despite the ever increasing budget of the PDEA, which is now close to a billion, 95% of the Philippines remains infested with illegal drugs,” Mr. Marcelino said at the time.

“To erase any suspicion on the impartiality and objectivity of the undersigned as she is always been a believer of fair play and justice, she wishes to relieve/enjoin herself from hearing the case specially resolving the Omnibus Motion filed by the accused,” Ms. Laron-Cacanindin said in her order, copies of which were furnished to the accused in the case, Justice Secretary Vitaliano N. Aguirre II, Senior Deputy State Prosecutor Richard Anthony D. Fadullon, Chief Public Attorney Persida V. Rueda-Acosta, PDEA, and the Anti-Illegal Drugs Group and special Operations Unit 3 of the PNP.

Ms. Laron-Cacanindin said she is “in the process of finalizing her Order on the Urgent Ad Cautelam Omnibus Motion to: (a) Quash Information; ( b) Suspend Issuance of a Warrant of Arrest; (c) Judicial Determination of Probable Cause; and (d) Defer Arraignment. —