LIM AMBUSH. The bullet riddled SUV reportedly driven by Wellington Lim, brother of controversial businessman Peter Lim was shown parked in an uptown condominium on March 24, 2018.
THE police have admitted that aside from the labor dispute angle, they are still faced with a virtual blank wall as far as identifying the suspects and the possible motive behind the bombing of a shop owned by controversial businessman Peter Lim.
Chief Supt. Debold Sinas, the acting director of the Police Regional Office in Central Visayas (PRO-7), said in a press conference on Monday that they are now digging deeper into the labor dispute angle as posssible motive.
“May report ang barangay nga naay mga gipang-terminate nga wala gipangbayaran daw. We are looking into that,” said Sinas.
(We received a report from the barangay that Lim’s company terminated some employees and that those who were sacked were never paid until now.)
Last July 5, unidentified men set off two “molotov bombs,” not improvised explosive devices (IEDs) as earlier reported, outside an establishment owned by Lim in Barangay Subangdaku, Mandaue City.
Sinas said molotov bombs, a variety of bottle-based improvised incendiary weapons, cannot be considered as IEDs because they lack a major component of an IED. Sinas, however, refused to identify the lacking component.
On the possibility that the attack might be connected to the tagging of Lim by President Rodrigo Duterte as an illegal drug personality, Sinas said that they cannot confirm nor deny it.
“We do not have further information regarding that. What we can say is based on our investigation. And we cannot confirm or deny because we do not have any further information,” said Sinas.
Shortly after he assumed his post, President Duterte publicly identified Lim as a big-time drug lord, a claim the businessman strongly denied.
The explosion at the display area of Hilton Motors Corp., on June 5 was the second time in a week that Lim’s properties had been attacked.
Just last June 30, three armed men disarmed the security guard of Infinity KTV & Music Lounge in Archbishop Reyes Ave., Cebu City — a bar owned by Lim’s younger brother Wellington — and tried to set the establishment on fire.
Last March 23, unidentified men also fired at a vehicle reportedly driven by Wellington as he was leaving the Infinity carpark.
Wellington was unharmed but a security guard was killed while another security guard and two foreigners who happened to pass by during the shooting were wounded.