Police on standby to arrest Peter Lim
Law enforcers are just waiting for arrest warrant
Cebu’s law enforcement agencies expressed readiness to serve the warrant of arrest against controversial businessman Peter Lim after the Department of Justice (DOJ) filed drug charges against him in court on Friday.
Supt. Lito Patay, the new director of the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group in Central Visayas (CIDG-7), said arresting Lim won’t be a walk in the park.
“Sana matulungan kami na mahanap siya para masaya. (I hope we get the necessary help to find him so that it will be exciting),” he told Cebu Daily News in a text message.
Patay assumed his post in CIDG-7 last August 6, Monday, five days before Lim was indicted by the DOJ.
The champion marksman made the Batasan Police Station in Quezon City as the deadliest station when he was its commander in 2016.
Asked whether he knew Lim on his first day in office, Patay said “Kinsa diay na si Peter Lim? Naa diay na siya diri? (Who is Peter Lim? Is he here?),” before giving a huge smile.
No order yet
Supt. Reyman Tolentin, spokesperson of the Central Visayas police, said that they have not received any directives yet to arrest Lim.
But once the arrest warrant is released, he said police operatives will implement it.
Lim’s spokesperson Dioscoro “Jun” Fuentes said their Manila-based lawyers are on top of the case and will exhaust all legal remedies to reverse the DOJ ruling.
“I understand that our law enforcers are ready to serve the warrant of arrest when it comes. That is their duty, and we could not do anything about it,” he said.
Fuentes, however, expressed hopes that law enforcers won’t do something beyond the bounds of the law.
“Eveybody is praying for fairness. Just days ago, the police said they ought to be trusted. And I personally believe so,” he said.
Lim still in Cebu
Asked if Lim will voluntarily yield to authorities once the arrest warrant is issued by the court, Fuentes said “I would not know. We haven’t discussed that yet.”
Fuentes, however, gave an assurance that Lim is “very much in Cebu.”
Cebu Daily News tried but still failed to reach Lim’s Manila-based lawyer Francis Alex Lopez on Saturday.
The DOJ on Friday found sufficient evidence to indict Lim on charges of “conspiracy to commit illegal drug trade.”
The offense is non-bailable.
Lim will be facing trial before the Regional Trial Court in Makati City which may issue an arrest warrant against businessman anytime soon unless he can secure an order to reverse the DOJ’s ruling.
In a resolution, the panel of prosecutors recommended the filing of charges against Lim for violating Republic Act 9168 or the Comprehensive Dangerous Drugs Act of 2002, particularly for “selling, trading, administration, dispensation, delivery, distribution and transportation of any dangerous drug.”
The DOJ used as a basis the testimony of self-confessed drug lord Kerwin Espinosa before the Senate where Lim was identified as one of his suppliers of dangerous drugs.
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