PDEA – ellen tordesillas

The Marine who said ‘No’

Published by Ellen on January 26, 2016

This article was first published on January 18, 2009. We are re-posting this as Lt. Col Ferdinand Marcelino is again in the news after he was arrested in a drug bust operation last Jan. 21. Marcelino says his presence in the shabu den was a legal operation. His lawyer said it was a “frameup”

By Ellen Tordesillas, VERA Files

THE soldier who stirred a hornet’s nest by accusing Department of Justice officials of bribery in the so-called “Alabang Boys” case could have been a millionaire by now.

Marine Maj. Ferdinand Marcelino, chief of the Special Enforcement Service of the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency, has experienced being bribed by smugglers, politicians and drug dealers in his 14-year career as a military officer.

But Marcelino, who belongs to the Philippine Military Academy Class of 1994, said he has made it a point to give back the thick envelopes stuffed with cash, and was not even curious enough to count the money and see how much he is worth.

Prosecution flaws bog down fight vs drugs

Published by Ellen on January 28, 2011

By IBARRA C. MATEO AND YVONNE T. CHUA
VERA Files

Cai Qing HaiFOR many years, Chinese national Cai Qing Hai had been on the list of Asia’s “most wanted drug manufacturers and traffickers,” with law enforcers from three countries—the Philippines, China and Malaysia—hot on his trail.

Cai was no ordinary drug dealer. He headed a transnational syndicate which Chinese authorities said produced 1.7 tons of methamphetamine hydrocloride or “shabu” in the three countries. He was also slippery prey—in 2005, he escaped prison by bribing his jailers in Malaysia just as they were about to hand him over to Chinese law enforcers. Cai then fled to Manila, which he has considered his second home since he was 13.

In October 2007, Philippine anti-narcotics agents caught up with Cai, then 36 and using the alias Bruce Esteban Ong, in his clandestine shabu laboratory in Sta Cruz, Laguna. They thought they had helped put an end to the activities of one of Asia’s most dangerous men.

The other war in Mindanao

Published by Ellen on April 14, 2009

Related story in the Inquirer: From Oakwood rebel to anti-drug hero

Since last Monday, the flag at the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency office has been flying at half-staff in honor of Intelligence Officer Pablo June Jala and a confidential agent known only as “Tho”, who were killed in an ambush in Maguindanao earlier that day.

Two of the victims’ companions, Intelligence Officers Brian Babang and Mark Anthony Viray were seriously wounded.

The PDEA team was on its way to serve a warrant of arrest on a certain Piad Buaya Abdula Piad in Simuay, Sultan Kudarat, Maguindanao when they were attacked by heavily armed men.

Sign of the times

Published by Ellen on February 17, 2009

Yesterday, the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency acquired 195 new intelligence officers with the graduation of the new batch of cadets at the PDEA Academy.

In his speech before the new graduates, Parañaque Rep.Roilo Golez said they are entering a career of risk, honor, glory and high mission.

“The campaign on illegal drugs is the moral equivalent of war. It’s a tougher war than war against the NPA, the secessionist movement and the Abu Sayyaf. More than 4,000 barangays, 50 per cent of them in the National Capital Region, are effected by the menace of drugs. Seventy-five per cent of major crimes in the NCR are drug related. This is a serious public order problem,” Golez said.

Interagency feud weakens anti-drug campaign

Published by Ellen on January 19, 2009

By VERA Files

(Conclusion)

Last Jan. 13, President Arroyo proclaimed herself the country’s anti-drug czar, stepping into the feud between the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency and the Department of Justice over the “Alabang Boys,” the three young men arrested and detained for illegal drug pushing and who allegedly tried to bribe their way to freedom.

Except for ordering DOJ officials and prosecutors to go on leave, Arroyo has kept mum on the charges of bribery, inefficiency and conflicts of interest that were exchanged between prosecutors and antinarcotics officials and agents. Her move has resulted in an uneasy peace between warring agencies that are supposed to work closely together in the anti-drug effort.

“The anti-drug campaign requires a united front, a harmonious relationship with other agencies,” a senior police official said. But he lamented that the attacks on both the PDEA and DOJ have “destroyed institution(s), including those who are innocent.”

Law enforcers say there has been a long running feud, with antinarcotics agents frustrated at the frequency with which prosecutors drop charges against suspects, and prosecutors complaining that law enforcers fail to build cases strong enough to stand up in court. Judges have also been accused of acquitting known drug lords.

As “shabu” price rises, Ecstasy use up

Published by Ellen on January 19, 2009

By VERA Files

(First of two parts)

The trade in crystal methamphetamine hydrochloride or “shabu” in the Philippines has grown into a P1 billion-a-day industry, but the drug has now become more expensive, making it “the poor man’s cocaine no more,” antinarcotics officials and international drug reports said.

The price of shabu has doubled to between P8,000 and P10,000 per gram since law enforcers dismantled several “mega-laboratories” in 2006 and 2007.

But government successes in curbing shabu production have been offset by another problem: Users are now turning to the amphetamine-type stimulant Ecstasy, which sells for P750 to P800 per tablet, and cocaine, which sells for P2,500 per gram, the kinds of drugs that were seized from “Alabang Boys” Richard Brodett, Jorge Joseph and Joseph Ramirez Tecson by agents of the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency in a drug-bust operation last September.

Retired generals back PDEA

Published by Ellen on January 9, 2009

by Jocelyn Uy
Philippine Daily Inquirer

Retired generals and flag officers of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) are backing the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) and its chief Dionisio Santiago for enforcing drug laws “without fear of favor.”

Mired in a bribery scandal involving a drug case against the so-called “Alabang Boys,” the PDEA must be supported by “patriotic and decent” people for continuing to perform its mandated duties well, said the Association of General and Flag Officers, Inc. (AGFO) in a resolution.

“Through the years, the PDEA has been conscientious in the performance of its duties [and] in doing its mandated tasks, it has been subjected to a lot of innuendoes and brickbats, so as to discredit its good name its personnel,” said the resolution.

Prosecutors support Zuño,Kimpo, Resado; slam PDEA

Published by Ellen on January 9, 2009

These prosecutors are hopeless. They see nothing wrong in an undersecretary following up the release of a drug pusher. They see nothing wrong in a defense lawyer preparing a release order, which should be their job. Ang yayabang pa.

by Evangeline de Vera
Malaya

State prosecutors at the Department of Justice yesterday threw their support behind the resolution of the anti-narcotics task force that dismissed the drug charges against the so-called Alabang Boys.

The 100-strong State Prosecutors Association, led by its president State Prosecutor Crisaldo Rioflorido, faced the media following an emergency meeting among its members to denounce the criticisms hurled at the DOJ fiscals triggered by allegations by the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency of a payoff in exchange for the release of the three suspects.

Yano to Marcelino: “Stay on the side of truth”

Published by Ellen on January 9, 2009

by Joel Guinto
Inquirer.net

Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) chief of staff General Alexander Yano called to his office a Marine officer who exposed the alleged bribery in the so-called “Alabang Boys” case, advising him to stay “on the side of the truth,” the military’s spokesman said.

During a 15-minute meeting in Camp Aguinaldo, Yano also warned Major Ferdinand Marcelino, who is detailed to the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA), against groups with “vested interest” that might take advantage of him, Lieutenant Colonel Ernesto Torres Jr., AFP public affairs office chief, said.

“The advice of the chief of staff [to Marcelino] is to always be on the side of the truth and preserve his moral courage…and lastly, to be wary of some groups with vested interest who may take advantage of the situation,” Torres said.

Tag: PDEA