HAS Cebuano businessman Peter Lim already fled the country?
A man who identified himself as a guard at Hilton Motors told Sunstar Cebu over the phone that he has not seen Lim reporting to office for weeks already.
The Makati Regional Trial Court (RTC) has issued an arrest warrant against Lim, self-confessed drug lord Rolan “Kerwin” Espinosa, and several others over their involvement in illegal drugs.
The warrant was issued four days after the new panel of government prosecutors tasked to reinvestigate the drug-related complaint against them indicted Lim for conspiracy with Espinosa and the others.
Lim and Espinosa were charged by the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (CIDG) for conspiracy to commit illegal drug trading. Others accused were Marcelo Adorco, Ruel Malindangan, and several John Does
Jurisdiction
Espinosa and the others were indicted in a separate resolution issued last July by the same panel of prosecutors.
The panel found probable cause to charge them with violating Section 26(B) in relation to Section 5, Article 11 of Republic Act 9165, or the Comprehensive Dangerous Drugs Act of 2002.
It said it found the admission of Espinosa and his aide Adorco in a Senate investigation on the proliferation of illegal drugs sufficient to establish probable cause to charge them.
The panel said that conspiracy to commit illegal drug trading is a distinct offense under the law.
In the arrest warrant issued by Judge Gina Palamos of Makati RTC Branch 65, the court found that “it has jurisdiction over the subject matter” and that “probable cause exist” to hold Lim and his co-accused
The court has also set the arraignment of their case at 1:30 p.m. on Aug. 28.
Hours before the issuance of the arrest warrant, Cebu City Mayor Tomas Osmeña, in his news conference yesterday, said he welcomed the development.
“Good. That means there’s a change in the DOJ (Department of Justice) because (former justice secretary Vitaliano) Aguirre practically released Peter Lim. I think he’s around here somewhere. I’m not an authority, I don’t know. But I heard he’s still here. I heard that Willy (Wellington Lim), his brother, is gone. In the (United) States, I think he got the identity of a priest, something like that,” Osmeña told reporters.
Mere acquaintances
After Adorco, who has turned state witness, identified Lim as Espinosa’s supplier during a Senate inquiry, Lim and Espinosa were cleared by the DOJ of drug charges in December because the CIDG did not include in its complaint Adorco’s testimony and Espinosa’s admission during the inquiry.
The DOJ resolution, which was made public last March, drew the ire of President Rodrigo Duterte and sparked public outrage, prompting Aguirre to overturn the resolution and form a new panel of prosecutors to look into the case.
With this development, Osmeña said the businessman should answer in court the allegations against him.
The mayor admitted knowing Lim since he is “very prominent” in the local scene, but stressed that they are not friends.
“I sheltered Bernard Liu, who was the last remaining witness against Peter Lim. I gave him a job. I put him in the South Road Properties, made him stay there to protect him from Peter Lim. But when I no longer became mayor, he was fired from City Hall, so he went to Talisay (City) where he was killed,” Osmeña said.
Unconfirmed reports said Lim has left the country. Espinosa, on the other hand, is detained at the National Bureau of Investigation’s Detention Center in Manila.
Adorco is under the government’s witness protection program, while Malindangan remains at-large. (SUNSTAR PHILIPPINES WITH EOB)