Ferdinand Marcelino

Lt. Col. Ferdinand Marcelino is an active Marine officer of the Philippine Navy, graduate of the Philippine Military Academy Bantay Laya Class of 1994. He first appeared on both National and International TV on 2009, as the department head of the Special Enforcement Service, Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA). He is known for apprehending the Alabang Boys drug trafficking group and exposed their attempted bribery of P3M.

He is now facing a tough battle for his career and security when he got arrested together with a Chinese citizen and former PDEA interpreter Yan Yi Shou in a raid conducted by the Philippine National Police (PNP) Anti-Illegal Drugs Special Operations Task Force and the PDEA in Celadon Place apartment building in Sta. Cruz, Manila on January 21, 2016.

Marcelino and Yi Shou will face charges without bail in connection with the illegal drugs manufacturing and possession.

Marcelino, who has been recently appointed as the Superintendent for Philippine Navy's Graduate School, then denied the claim and proved his innocence, said he was on a "legitimate intelligence operation" called "Oplan Moses" together with the operatives of the Intelligence Service of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (ISAFP) to bust the Shabu laboratory contained 76 kilos of shabu worth PhP 383 million. Former ISAFP Chief Army Lt. Col. Eduardo Ano said that the Oplan Moses mission papers issued to Marcelino is expired since 2014. The PNP thru Sr. Supt. Antonio Gardiola Jr. of AIDG stated that surveillance operations in a drug laboratory is not a responsibility for a soldier. He will go on a hunger strike in prison until justice will be served.

Marcelino allegedly was part of the Presidential Anti-Organized Crime Commission (PAOCC) team on its surveillance operations, but the official from Malacanañg Palace denied the colonel's claim.

Atty. Dennis Manalo, the legal counsel of Marcelino, claimed that the arrest of his client is part of PDEA's "demolition job" against one of the top anti-drug agents in the Philippines. A report from The Standard said that Marcelino is linked to a Chinese illegal drug syndicate led by a certain "Atong Lee".

The colonel's camp also denied the allegation that he gain profits from illegal drug trade. During the arrest operations of Marcelino, 13 bank deposit slips with amounts totalling to 2.25 million pesos were also found in a bag.

Early career
Lt. Col. Marcelino, grew up from Hagonoy, Bulacan, first became a writer for the tabloid "Headline" before he was part of the PMA Bantay Laya Class of 1994. His first assignment as a Marine officer is in Sulu. Marcelino, then recruited by former PDEA director general Dionisio Santiago to become part of the agency's Special Enforcement Service.

Together with the undercover agents of the PDEA-SPS, Marcelino led the arrest of Manuel Lim, son of former Manila mayor Alfredo Lim and three others caught with 100 grams of shabu in Manila in March 2008, and the buy-bust operation and the eventual arrest of the "Alabang Boys", namely Joseph Tecson, Richard Brodett and Jorge Joseph on alleged illegal drug operations in the Alabang area in September 19, 2008. On December, PDEA received a report that "Php 50 Million change hands" in exchange of the release of Alabang Boys. Marcelino, then exposed three other bribery attempts.

He left the agency in 2012.