Drug conspiracy rap vs Peter Lim to proceed

MANILA, Philippines — The prosecution of Cebu businessman Peter Lim will proceed despite his bid before the Supreme Court (SC) to block reinvestigation of drug charges against him that government prosecutors have dismissed.

The Department of Justice (DOJ) proceeded with the filing of the case for violation of Section 26 of Republic Act 9165, the Comprehensive Dangerous Drugs Act, against Lim before the Makati City regional trial court last week despite his petition to stop the criminal proceedings.

Senior Assistant State Prosecutor Juan Pedro Navera, head of the DOJ panel, explained that the SC has not acted on Lim’s petition and did not issue a temporary restraining order (TRO) on the preliminary reinvestigation.

“There’s no TRO from the SC, that’s why we issued the resolution and filed the case in court,” he stressed in an interview over the weekend.

In his petition, Lim asked the SC to issue a TRO to stop the DOJ’s preliminary reinvestigation on charges of sale, administration, dispensation, trading, delivery and transportation of illegal drugs under RA 9165 that were previously dismissed by a panel of prosecutors.

Lim asked the high court to nullify the order issued by resigned justice secretary Vitaliano Aguirre II last March that effectively voided the resolution of the first panel in December 2017, which dismissed the charges for lack of probable cause and ordered another preliminary investigation by a new panel of prosecutors.

Lim alleged that the DOJ reinvestigation violates his rights to life and liberty, due process of law, and speedy disposition of case against him filed by the Philippine National Police - Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (PNP-CIDG).

Calling the reinvestigation as an act of “oppression,” the businessman tagged by authorities as the drug lord “Jaguar” explained that the DOJ “essentially coached the CIDG to beef up its evidence against petitioner to justify the filing of information for a non-bailable offense against him.”

An individual that goes by the name Jaguar is in the government’s narco list.?Lim further accused the DOJ of committing grave abuse of discretion for nullifying the resolution of the first panel simply because it was met with “nationwide uproar” and “public outrage.”

The high court, however, has not acted on his petition so far and has not even required the DOJ to submit its answer.

Navera, who heads the DOJ’s task force on drug cases, said they are optimistic that the SC will dismiss Lim’s petition.

“We are confident that we will be sustained, the Secretary of Justice has the power to order reinvestigation,” he explained.

The senior prosecutor also believes that the courts will sustain their findings should Lim opt to file another petition this time to question his indictment.

“If we go up on petition for review or whatever remedies that they might have to question the probable cause determination, it’s really their right but we are confident that the evidence submitted to us will be enough to establish probable cause for the crime of conspiracy to commit illegal drug trade,” Navera stressed.

Navera also assured the public that Lim had been given due process in the DOJ during the preliminary reinvestigation.

“We are confident that all the parties were given the opportunity to present evidence during the reopening and we’re confident that everybody was afforded due process. Records will show that in fact he, his co-respondents and even the complainants in this case were given every opportunity to adduce the evidence or present additional documents that they wanted to present,” he pointed out.

Prior to Lim’s indictment, the DOJ has also recently indicted confessed drug dealer Kerwin Espinosa, inmate Peter Co , Lovely Impal and Ruel Malindagan for the same crime of conspiracy to engage in illegal drug trade.

The panel only issued a separate resolution for Lim after it granted his plea for a separate preliminary investigation.

In its resolution on Lim’s case released last Friday, the DOJ gave weight to Espinosa’s confession at the Senate—the transcript of which was submitted to the investigating prosecutors for the new probe—and Marcelo Adorco’s positive identification of Lim.

The DOJ stressed that the most serious element of the crime charged was the “agreement to trade in drugs.”

“The drugs themselves as corpus delicti (body of crime) of drug trading are not essential under Section 26(b) of the law,” the DOJ held.

Lim’s defense is he is not “Jaguar.” The businessman said that he even presented himself before the National Bureau of Investigation earlier to clear his name.

But the panel said that Lim’s defense is “immaterial” as he was positively identified by Adorco and Espinosa.

“His alibi that he could not have possibly been in Thailand during the time attested by Adorco has to yield to the positive and affirmative statements of said witness,” the DOJ said.

Palace: Gov’t serious in curbing drugs

Malacañang said the filing of cases against Lim proved that the government is determined to curb the narcotics trade.

“The filing of charges by the DOJ against Peter Lim shows government’s seriousness and firm resolve in fighting the illicit drug trade,” presidential spokesman Harry Roque said in a statement yesterday.

“Big fish or small, our war against drugs spares no one. It is a war that drug smugglers and traffickers are bound to lose,” he added. 

Duterte has threatened to kill Lim if it is proven that the businessman is into illicit drugs trade. In a July 2016 meeting in Davao City, Duterte asked Lim to face the allegations against him and to allow himself to be investigated. – With Alexis Romero