Monday, July 10, 2006
Lawmaker urges witness in illegal drugs inquiry to yield
By Linette C. Ramos
CEBU CITY -- After the killing of Ananias Dy, a congressman urged another witness at a House investigation on illegal drugs to surrender to authorities at once for his own safety.
Representative Antonio Cuenco said Bernard Liu should give himself up to the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) and remain in its custody, as his life could also be in danger.
He said, though, that until the police establish a connection between the killing of Dy and their roles in the House inquiry, everything remains merely speculation.
But “if one angle or the motive of the case is related to Ananias Dy’s testimony against certain personalities, then Liu’s life will also be in danger,” Cuenco said, without naming the personalities involved.
“My advice to Bernard Liu is to surrender to the NBI and place himself under their custody for his own safety,” Cuenco told Sun.Star Cebu.
He also offered three months’ salary—amounting to P105,000—as a cash reward, which he will give to anyone who can lead authorities to solve the killing.
Cuenco was chairman of the congressional committee on illegal drugs in 2001 when Liu and Dy testified during an inquiry.
Both men detailed the alleged involvement of Chinese businessmen Peter and Wellington Lim in the illegal drugs trade of the Hong Kong Triad. Both brothers denied the accusation.
Liu, a self-confessed former “henchman”, told the committee that Peter, who owns Hilton Heavy Equipment, is a Triad member. He also divulged he went to Hong Kong six times with the brothers.
And every time they went to Hong Kong, they allegedly brought about 10 kilos of shabu stashed inside a golf bag.
During the hearing, Dy, Peter’s former bodyguard, corroborated Liu’s testimony. He said he was the one who packed the shabu, which sometimes weighed as much as 10 kilos, to be sent to Hong Kong.
Following his testimony, the Department of Justice (DOJ) filed against Peter four importation of illegal drugs charges, three of which have been dismissed.
The Lim brothers also denied their former employees’ statements and filed a libel suit against them.
In a phone interview Sunday, Cuenco said he already asked NBI Regional Director Medardo Delemos to track down the three gunmen and the mastermind in the shooting to death of Dy last Saturday night.
He will also follow up the results of the investigation of the Cebu City Police Office.
“The killers and mastermind must be identified immediately,” he said.
At the Cebu Rolling Hills Sunday where Dy’s body was autopsied, the congressman assured Dy’s family he will shoulder the funeral expenses.
Though he knew somebody was after his life, Dy did not ask for any protection.
Liu, on the other hand, went into hiding after Regional Trial Court Judge Fortunato de Gracia Jr. issued a warrant of arrest against him (Liu) in December 2003.
Cuenco said the last time he talked to Liu was a year and a half ago, when the latter asked for help in seeking the dismissal of all four cases against him.
Then DOJ secretary Simeon Datumanong ordered the filing of four criminal cases for drug trafficking against Liu, over his revelations during the House inquiry.
In January 2004, the DOJ reversed Datumanong’s resolution, with Acting Justice Secretary Ma. Merceditas Gutierez saying Liu’s admission, made during a House inquiry, does not merit the filing of the cases against him. (Sun.Star Cebu)
(July 10, 2006 issue)
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