MANILA - Two female cops are in hot water after a staff member of Senator Alan Peter Cayetano posted a photo of them posing with recently arrested actor Mark Anthony Fernandez.

“I don’t know the details of this photo and I personally support our cops because I have seen the effects of illegal drugs among my friends and I’m a supporter of President Duterte. If this photo op was taken after the arrest, I’m sorry but I think the PNP should call out or reprimand these two officers. We are at war against drugs but they do this? How can the people think we are serious in the campaign against illegal drugs when police do idiotic stuff like these, assuming this was taken after the fact that he was apprehended,” posted Powee Capino, digital and social media manager of Senator Cayetano, on his Facebook page.

Fernandez was arrested last Monday by Angeles City authorities after a brief chase along Mcarthur Highway in Barangay Virgen de los Remedios. Police said one kilo of suspected cannabis wrapped in packaging tape was found in his car.

Although the policewomen who posed with the 37-year-old actor were not identified by Capino, one of them has a legible name patch that says Angeles. Fernandez was wearing the same shirt when his mug shot was taken.

He was wearing a different checkered shirt when he was arrested but he probably changed because it got drenched by the rain.

As more details on the circumstances that led to Fernandez’s arrest emerged, it was learned that the actor tested positive for marijuana and negative for methamphetamine or shabu. He claims that he only had a small amount of marijuana in his possession when he was arrested and not the kilo that police said they had recovered from him.

Actor Mark Anthony Fernandez is in handcuffs as he is brought to the Angeles City police station after his arrest on Monday. (Photo by Cris Sansano)

He later claimed in other reports that he is using marijuana for medicinal purposes specifically to prevent himself from contracting cancer, the same disease that claimed the life of his father, the late screen legend Rudy Fernandez. He even claimed that a doctor actually prescribed the use of marijuana to him.
The arrest of Fernandez has prompted his supporters led by his distant uncle and fellow actor, Robin Padilla, to join the call to legalize marijuana for medicinal purposes.

On his verified Facebook page, Padilla, a known supporter of President Duterte, has been posting messages of support to Fernandez. In one of his posts, he shared a photo of the elder Fernandez together with sons Mark, Rap and Renz as posted by Fernandez’s half-brother, actor-producer Rap Fernandez.

“Yes nephew Rap Fernandez and It will be a long sacrifice for your brother but medical marijuana will be his contribution to the future… For now let us thank and praise God he is alive Alhamdulillah,” Padilla wrote.

The Compassionate Use of Medical Cannabis Act or House Bill 4477 that seeks to allow the medical use of marijuana authored by Isabela representative Rodito Albano was a hotly debated piece of legislation during the term of President Noynoy Aquino but was not passed into law. Albano vowed to refile the bill this year.

President Duterte himself has been quoted as being okay with the legalization of medical marijuana.
“Medical marijuana, yes, because it is really an ingredient of modern medicine now…There are medicines right now being developed or already in the market that (have) marijuana as a component but used for medical purposes,” he told reporters in Davao City last May weeks after winning the election.

The president, however, remains opposed to the use of marijuana for recreational purposes as it remains among the prohibited substances under the Dangerous Drugs Act.

Several countries in the world including several states in the United States have already legalized marijuana but mostly for medical use and in small quantities.  © Provided by InterAksyon