PETER LIM. /Inquirer file photo
CEBU businessman and suspected big-time drug lord Peter Lim failed to show up before the Makati City Regional Trial Court Branch 65 for his supposed arraignment on Tuesday.
His absence prompted Judge Gina Bibat-Palamos to defer his arraignment.
Lim was charged with two counts of conspiracy to commit illegal drug trade on Aug. 10, after a year-long investigation and reinvestigation at the Department of Justice (DOJ).
“Obviously Peter Lim did not attend, as to him, walang arraignment but the court scheduled the next hearing to September 14,” Senior Assistant Prosecutor Juan Pedro Navera told reporters after the hearing.
Palamos ordered the arrest of Lim after the DOJ indicted him for violating Republic Act 9165 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 Rolando “Kerwin” Espinosa Jr. before the Senate where Lim was identified as one of his suppliers of dangerous drugs.
Meanwhile, Lim’s co-accused Espinosa and Marcelo Adorco were arraigned.
The court set pre-trial on Sept. 14.
President Rodrigo Duterte publicly called out Lim in 2016, alleging that he was one of the biggest drug dealers in the country.
But Lim denied the charges, saying he was not the Peter Lim named by the President.
Police tried to serve the arrest warrant against the businessman on his two listed addresses in Cebu City last Aug. 20 but failed to find him.
The police, citing intelligence reports, said that Lim is currently hiding in Manila.