About that exposé by JPE in the Senate
In perhaps one of the most embarrassing episodes that cast a shadow on the nefarious activities inside Malacañang was the unexpected arrest of Marine Lt. Col. Ferdinand Marcelino during a raid on a shabu laboratory in Manila together with Chinese national Yan Yi Shou where 76 kilos of illegal drugs worth P383 million were seized. Col. Marcelino's alibi is that he had a mission order when he was arrested from the Intelligence Service of the Armed Forces of the Philippines.
However his former boss in ISAFP Lt. General Eduardo Año who is currently Army Chief clearly stated that the mission order he issued to Col. Marcelino already lapsed in the Year 2014. Col. Marcelino also used his Malacañang card, saying that he belonged to the Presidential Anti-Organized Crime Commission. Now the Rasputin's in Malacañang are saying that Col. Marcelino was not detailed with PAOCC.
So are we seeing here that Col. Marcelino is a person so high in the presidential hierarchy doing business in the drug trade? So it seems. However someone has pushed the panic button and a vigorous PR campaign came up with a spin so that the public would hail Col. Marcelino as a hero instead of being a heel. Yesterday, the lawyer of Col. Marcelino got for himself an interview with no less than Ms. Karen Davila over Headstart in ANC.
This is one of the problems of this country, where media more often than not is allowed to present "the other side" so that the public can formulate their opinion even before this case is brought to the courts of law. Sure this maybe a high-profile case but we need to have the courts of law debate on this issue rather than present it to the public via media. This is where the media can do more harm than good.
What is especially clear to me is something that our fellow The Freeman columnist and Anti-Drug Crusader Atty. Paul Oaminal revealed to me a couple of years that Pres. Benigno "PNoy" Aquino III never for once mentioned his regime's anti-drug campaign. He was totally silent about this in the last five State of the Nation Address. Atty. Oaminal dared anyone to look into the president's SONA and if they can point to a statement about his anti-drug campaign, he would pay that person P7,000. I called him yesterday and so far, no one has come out to refute his statement that Pres. PNoy Aquino had no anti-drugs program.
Life is as simple as one-plus-one. If the Aquino regime had no anti-drugs program, it could only mean one thing: that could have been protectors from high up who is into the illegal drugs business. Is this person Lt. Col. Marcelino? All I can say is the noose is tightening.
Meanwhile, the Rasputin's inside Malacañang palace are in a somber mood because of the reopening of the Mamasapano massacre tomorrow. It comes in the midst of their final and last effort for Congress to approve the Bangsamoro Basic Law. I doubt if any well-meaning lawmakers would vote for the BBL this week. I'm sure that they would like to hear the testimony of former Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile on the role of the president in the Mamasapano massacre.
Already the allies (or what's left of them) of Pres. Aquino in the Senate are wary whether the tape recording of retired Police Chief Superintendent Diosdado Valeroso should be played or not. Will this be comparable to the opening of the envelope during the impeachment trial of former Pres. Joseph "Erap" Estrada? I already got various messages from different sources that the Enrile exposé would explode in the face of PNoy that would force the Filipino people to demand for his resignation as president.
Mind you, we are now in very familiar territory just a month before the 30th Anniversary of the EDSA People's Power Revolt. As you read this piece, many people are already speculating that the events in the Senate this week would be the most explosive in the five years under the PNoy presidency. If you recall, when he became president, there was a Chinese astrologer who predicted that Pres. Aquino would not finish his term.
Exactly a year ago, the National Transformation Council held a summit at the Mariner's Court at the ALU compound in Pier One and demanded the resignation of Aquino. This demand was triggered by so many issues that have hounded the Aquino regime like the misuse of the Priority Development Assistance Program and the Development Assistance Program.
This was later joined by a larger group seeking the resignation of PNoy because of the Mamasapano debacle. Will we see a bigger repeat of this demand PNoy's resignation after this exposé? People may still say we can wait five more months of PNoy. But I know many people can't even wait for five months to get rid of PNoy. They want it, now na!
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For email responses to this article, write to [email protected] or [email protected]. His columns can be accessed through www.philstar.com.
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