A source who was at the courtroom said the prosecution’s witness, former Police Senior Superintendent Cezar Mancao II, was fidgety because his lawyer, Ferdinand Topacio, was not around.
Someone told Mancao, “Hindi na darating yun. Napuyat yun kagabi. (He won’t be coming. He is tired due to to last night’s incident.”
Topacio never made it to the court that day and the hearing was postponed. He was present in subsequent hearings.
Related story: Arroyo gags PDEA regional official
by Evangeline de Vera
Malaya
The National Bureau of Investigation has submitted its report to the Department of Justice clearing state prosecutors implicated in the bribery scandal involving the so-called “Alabang Boys.”
But the NBI, which is under the justice department, found basis to charge Marines Maj. Ferdinand Marcelino with obstruction of justice for refusing to appear before its investigators.
Marcelino, head of the Special Enforcement Services of the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency, led buy-bust operations in September last year, which resulted in the arrest of Richard Brodett, Joseph Tecson and Jorge Joseph.
Related story: Arroyo names herself drug czar Watch video of interview with Maj. Marcelino: http://www.verafiles.org/index.php/vera-video/165-marcelin-denies-snubbing-nbi