LIM TOLD: BE PROBED
Cebuano businessman Peter Lim, whose name was mentioned by President Rodrigo Duterte as among the three big-time drug lords operating in the country, presents himself to the President at the PDEA Region XI office in Davao City on July 15 to clear his name. (KIWI BULACLAC/PPD)
Duterte to Cebu businessman Peter Lim: Go to NBI
Casting aside his supposed shyness, Cebu businessman Peter Lim mustered the courage on Friday to appear before President Rodrigo Duterte in hopes of clearing his name of suspicions that he, and not another Peter Lim, is a big-time drug lord linked to the Hong Kong 14-K triad.
But instead of getting cleared by the President, what Lim got was a lengthy lecture from the country’s commander in chief who appeared to have nearly made up his mind about Lim’s alleged drug links based on the businessman’s reputation as having once been the subject of a congressional inquiry on illegal drugs.
“Ayaw ko bakaki. Gipatawag nako tanang agents. PDEA, military, police, NBI. Kahibawo ka gisuspepetsahan ka nga drug lord… As of now wa mi nakita nga ikaw nga Peter Lim pero naay Peter Lim nga sige’g sulpot ang name. Sige commute diri sa Pilipinas. Sunod balik nimo, tiwasan gyud tika. Walay hadlok-hadlok. Kuhaon namo tanang ebidensya sa Congress. Unya amo tan-awon. Kon wala kay sala, you open your life and your hand. Naa sila’y mga testigos. Ipatawag imo abogado to prove wa kay sala (Don’t lie to me. I have called all experts from PDEA, military, police and NBI. You know that you are suspected to be a drug lord. As of now, we have no proof that you are the Peter Lim being alluded to but there is a Peter Lim whose name always crops up. Always commuting to the Philippines. The next time you come back, I will finish you off, without fear. We will get all evidence from Congress and then we will see if you are blameless. If you are innocent, you open your life and your hand. They have witnesses. Call your lawyer to prove that you are innocent). ”
In a video released by RTVM yesterday, Duterte was seen talking with Lim at the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) office in Davao City.
Lim, who owns at least five business entities in Cebu sat intently, his face grim, listening to the President.
“Natingala ko nganong mosulod man ang imong name. Kung way sunog dili man gyud na moaso (I am wondering why your name keeps on cropping up. Where there’s smoke, there’s fire), “ Duterte told Lim.
Duterte said that it was one of Lim’s aides who arranged for the meeting in another place but he refused as he preferred to hold it in a government office with video cameras to record their 30-minute conversation.
“Warningan taka ha. Nagbanta gyud ko nimo. Ipapatay gyud tika, sa tinuod lang. Ipapatay gyud tika basta masilip nako na. Tiwasan gyud tika. Sa tinuod lang. So tug-ani ko sa tinuod. Ngano nasabit man ang imong name? Ngano mosulpot man ang imong ngan (I am giving you fair warning. Truth be told, I will have you killed. I will have you killed if I find out. I will finish you off, really. So tell me the truth. Why would your name be linked? Why does it always come up)?” Duterte repeatedly asked Lim.
500% Innocent
The businessman sat quietly through most of the President’s tirade but consistently denied any involvement in the illegal drug trade. He also denied commuting regularly to China, as described by Duterte in a presidential exposé last July 7 on the operations of a certain Peter Lim alias Jaguar.
Lim told the President that whenever he goes to another country, it is always with his whole family – his mother and kids – during Holy Week.
“Naa kay kaistorya sa China (Have you been speaking to anyone in China)?” Duterte asked.
“Wa gyud ko’y kaistorya sa China bisag kausa (I have not spoken to anyone in China, not even once),” was Lim’s reply.
Duterte intently listened to Lim’s explanations which were oftentimes interrupted by outbursts from the President on just how much he detested illegal drugs.
“Nasakit ko kay ang drugs (I am pained because drugs ) has corrupted the police, worked hardships on everybody… Shabu is unlike cocaine and heroine. Shabu is cooked with chemicals and it diffuses in the brain,” Duterte told Lim.
“Mao na problem. Ang tao naa shabu, wa na na. There’s no such thing as complete rehab. Kana ni surrender gamay ra kaayo na. Three million victim sa drugs. That is why suko kaayo ko because I love my country. Kasabot ka (That’s the problem. If a person uses shabu, he’s a goner. There’s no such thing as complete rehabilitation. Those who surrendered are just a fraction of the three million victims of drugs. That is why I am very angry because I love my country. Do you understand)?” asked Duterte.
“Kasabot ko (I understand),” Lim answered while assuring the President that he was with him “all the way” in the war against illegal drugs.
“Maayo. So I will conclude nga dili ikaw nang Peter Lim nga giingong drug lord (That’s good. So I will conclude that you are not the Peter Lim who is said to be a drug lord),” said Duterte, to which Lim replied, “I would not say Mr. President, 100%. I would say 500%. Wa gyud tawon ko anang bisyoha (I am definitely not into that vice).”
Lim went on to say that he was raised well by his merchant father who told his children to never get involved in any business that will harm the lives of other people.
“Akong papa atong una, down amo negosyo. Nabankrupt ako papa and mama. Ingon siya dunay niduol niya magnegosyo ana. Iya balibaran. He told our family, Son, bisan wa tay kwarta, wa tay makaon, ayaw gyud mo’g enter anang negosyo nga makadaut ug kinabuhi sa laing tao (My father before, when our business was down and he and my mother were bankrupt, was approached by someone who offered him that business. He refused. He told our family, Son, even if we do not have money, and we have nothing to eat, do not ever go into a business that will harm the lives of other people),” Lim said.
Due to financial difficulty, his mother, Lim said, had to learn how to sew clothes just so they would survive.
Presidential advice
Despite his explanations before the President, the businessman did not step out of the PDEA office cleared of the lingering suspicions.
Instead, he was urged by the President to submit himself to a probe before the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) and go to Justice Secretary Vitaliano Aguirre III.
“I advise you to strongly submit yourself for an investigation. Help us clear you. We’re not here to pin down innocent people pero galit talaga ako sa drug lords (but I am really angry with drug lords),” Duterte told Lim.
Lim thanked the President for accommodating him and for listening to his explanations.
“You are a very busy person. Mr. President, thank you very much for giving me the time and the chance to talk to you about the problem I’m having now,” said the businessman who also claimed that his family in Cebu had received threats since his name came up in the news.
Shortly before they parted ways, Duterte told Lim “I’m sorry, I cannot save you.”
The Cebuano businessman responded by saying, “Yes, I understand. If I’m not cleared, I don’t dare put up my hands to you because our nation is very lucky to have you.”
“You’re the only president who could save our nation. You really mean business and there are too many victims (of illegal drugs) in our country already,” Lim said.
As he got ready to leave, Duterte refused to shake Lim’s hand.
“I’m sorry, I cannot shake your hand,” said the President.
Lim owns several businesses in Cebu which include Hilton Heavy Equipment, Limbros Realty and Development Corporation, Kazz International, K1 KTV and Tiger Motor Sales.
Earlier, Duterte revealed the names of three big-time drug lords in the country: Wu Tuan alias Peter Co, Herbert Colangco alias Ampang and Peter Lim alias Jaguar. Lim, according to the President, was operating in the Visayas region.
The President then threatened to kill all of them if they continued with their illegal drug trade.
Duterte also linked five police generals who, he said, coddled drug lords. Among them are Marcelo Garbo, former deputy director general of the Philippine National Police (PNP) who had left for the United States last June, according to reports and Vicente Loot, former head of the Cebu PNP Provincial Office, now newly elected mayor of Daanbantayan.
In an interview with Cebu Daily News yesterday, Loot whose name was included in a diagram of the workings of the Hong Kong drug triad under a certain Peter Lim, said he is going through the process of clearing his name by submitting himself to the jurisdiction of the Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG).
“I will go through the process to clear my name and not to clear others,” he answered when asked if he would submit himself to the NBI, as the president had recommended.
Cebu reactions
Businessmen in Cebu urged Lim to consider Duterte’s call to prove that he isn’t a drug lord.
Cebu Business Club President Gordon Alan “Dondi” Joseph said Lim has no choice but to comply.
“And he should. The president is showing respect for due process,” he said.
Mandaue Chamber of Commerce and Industry past president Philip Tan, meanwhile, said Lim should just get on with it as “the truth will set him free and clear himself.”
For his part, former Rep. Antonio Cuenco who initiated the Congressional inquiry on Lim in 2001 promised to help in the new wave of investigations to determine if Lim is really a drug lord, but only if he is asked to do so.
Cuenco told CDN that he will also give a copy of the congressional committee report on the alleged involvement of Lim and his brother Wellington in Cebu’s illegal drug trade adding that their evidence against Lim was “very weak” after the NBI failed to validate the information against the Lim brothers.
Cuenco was the chairman of the committee on dangerous drugs in the House of Representatives, who called for a house inquiry into Lim’s alleged illegal drug activities.
Peter and Wellington became the subjects of the 2001 house inquiry after their names figured on top of the police watch list of drug personalities in the country since 1997.
The committee presented two witnesses — Bernard Liu and Ananias Dy — who accused the Lim brothers of being drug lords. Both worked at the Hilton Heavy Equipment owned by Peter and Wellington.
Liu and Dy were killed separately under mysterious circumstances, years later.
“The president will have my full cooperation. He can even use our committee report nga apil didto mga testimonies sa mga testigo (which includes the testimonies of witnesses),” Cuenco said.
Good move
Meanwhile, Lim’s two Cebu lawyers expressed surprise that the businessman had met with Duterte in person, but they said Lim made the “right move.”
“That’s good. It’s better to show up otherwise there will be doubts on the person. Let’s wait what will happen in the coming days,” lawyer Elias Espinosa told CDN over the phone.
Lim’s other lawyer Pedro Leslie Salva said the Bible clearly echoes what Lim did: “The wicked is afraid of his own shadow, but the innocent is as bold as a lion,” alluding to a verse in the Book of Proverbs.
Salva believed that Lim has never been involved in illegal drugs trade.
“I know Peter Lim for more than 20 years. I would have known it. As far as I know, Mr. Lim is a legitimate businessman. And if he’s into drugs, he should have been pinned down by the government a long time ago,” Salva told CDN.
Salva said it was unfair to Lim and his family to be accused of something the businessman never committed.
“There’s no iota of evidence against him. I’m glad that he showed up to once and for all settle everything. Let the truth prevail,” he said.
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