A SENATE inquiry’s spotlight again focused Monday, December 5, on two Cebu-based public figures, Daanbantayan Mayor Vicente Loot and businessman Peter Lim.
Philippine National Police Chief Ronald “Bato” dela Rosa said he was under orders from President Rodrigo Duterte to look into allegations that Lim was involved in the illegal drug trade, a claim that the businessman has repeatedly denied.
Dela Rosa said he ordered the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (CIDG) to work on the case following self-confessed drug lord Kerwin Espinosa’s claim that Lim had been one of his biggest sources of illegal drugs.
The PNP chief said he was not supposed to disclose the ongoing investigation, but did so to show the administration’s “sincerity” in its campaign against illegal drugs.
This, after Senator Antonio Trillanes IV showed a photograph of the president and Lim, taken when the two were sponsors in a wedding in Cebu shortly after the May 2016 elections.
Dela Rosa said that when he told Duterte that Lim had allegedly met with Kerwin’s henchman and bodyguard in Thailand, the President instructed him: “Trabahoa, trabahoa. Kon mosukol, patya (Work on it, work on it. If he fights back, kill him)!”
‘No trail’
In a separate interview, Lim said that Kerwin was lying to the Senate committee.
“I really don’t know personally about Kerwin and Jaguar (the late alleged drug lord Jaguar Diaz). I only knew their names when these came out in the media. You know that there is no trail, no connection, so I presume somebody is coaching him (Kerwin),” Lim said.
He added that while thinks the PNP chief is sincere about doing his job well, the official was “misled” if he believed Kerwin’s claims.
“But still I salute and support President Duterte because he is the only president who could save the country from the devastation of illegal drugs,” Lim said.
He said that he postponed his medical checkups abroad because he wants to show the authorities that he is not running away from false accusations.
The Senate is investigating the fatal shooting of Albuera, Leyte Mayor Rolando Espinosa, Kerwin’s father, while he was detained in early November.
‘Baseless’
For his part, Mayor Loot told the Senate committee yesterday that he had never received money from Kerwin Espinosa.
The retired police general said he didn’t know Espinosa nor Chief Insp. Leo Laraga, whom Espinosa had identified as the conduit who allegedly received P120,000 a month from him.
Of that, P100,000 was allegedly meant for Loot.
Laraga was part of the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group team that shot and killed the mayor.
“From what Kerwin has bared in his chamber, his statement showed that we have not known each other ever since. He has no personal transaction either by phone or in person, no jail visit ever happened in 2015. From the very beginning, the intelligence report that was fed to the President, which was made as a basis for me being dragged into this claim, was baseless and fabricated,” Loot said.
Loot said he believes that his name was just used in order to get money from Espinosa. He said Kerwin should have confirmed it with him personally.
Loot, however, said he was the one who provided information to PNP operatives that Kerwin had a warrant of arrest from a Cebu court, which led to Kerwin’s being jailed in Ormoc City.
Pressure
When Sun.Star Cebu asked how he felt while facing his accuser in the Senate, Loot said: “At first I felt like my blood pressure hit the roof. But as a member of a Catholic renewed community, I recalled the virtue of forgiveness of those who have wronged me.
But “forgiveness comes with justice and I will seek that in the proper forum against those who ruined my reputation,” the mayor added.
It was President Duterte who, last July, named Loot as one of five police generals allegedly protecting drug lords. He also named Lim as an alleged drug trader.
When Trillanes showed the photo of Duterte and Lim, he asked his Senate colleagues if that also constituted evidence to implicate the president in illegal drugs---just like what the administration is doing to Sen. Leila de Lima, whose photo with Kerwin Espinosa has also been presented to the Senate.
“Kumpare ni President Duterte itong drug lord na si Peter Lim. I am not ready to make a judgment dahil picture lang yan...But are we now ready to use a picture as a sign of guilt? (President Duterte and Peter Lim were sponsors in the same wedding. I am not ready to judge because that’s only a picture),” Trillanes said. (With Third Anne Peralta-Malonzo of Sunnex)