By Kristine Joy V. Patag
Reporter

BUSINESSMAN Peter Go Lim through his lawyers maintained he is not the alleged Central Visayas drug lord identified as “Jaguar” on Monday as the Department of Justice (DoJ) started the preliminary investigation hearing on the drug complaint filed against him.

Peter Lim
President Rodrigo R. Duterte listens to businessman Peter Lim, who denied any drug links during a meeting at the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency office in Davao City in this Philippine Star file photo taken in July 2016. PHILIPPINE STAR

Mr. Lim did not attend the hearing, but instead sent his team of lawyers headed by Majilyn T. Loja. In an interview with reporters after the hearing, Ms. Loja said Mr. Lim “vehemently denies (being) the person referred to as Peter Go Lim, also known as Jaguar.”

“He is not that person. He has always denied it. In fact, he presented himself saying that he is not the a.k.a. Jaguar,” Ms. Loja added.

To recall, a funeral was held in June last year for the alleged top Central Visayas drug lord “Jaguar” or a certain “Jeffrey Diaz.” But the complaint filed by the Philippine National Police-Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (PNP-CIDG) impleaded Mr. Lim a.k.a. Jaguar as among the distributors of the group headed by Roland “Kerwin” Espinosa, also a respondent in the case.

Mr. Lim, in July last year, met with President Rodrigo R. Duterte, who vowed to ruthlessly eliminate drugs in the country.

In the said meeting, a video of which was posted at the government’s YouTube channel, Mr. Duterte warned Mr. Lim: “I will execute you….I will finish you off.” The tough-talking president, however, said his government is “not here to pin down innocent citizens,” and will give the businessman an opportunity to “clear you.”

The meeting in Davao was also referenced in the complaint filed by PNP-CIDG: “[T]he Peter Lim who had supplied them staggering amounts of shabu is the same Peter Go Lim, a businessman from Cebu City, who was named by, and later surrendered to President Rodrigo Duterte in July 2016.”

In the complaint, Marcelo L. Adorco identified Mr. Lim as among those who “distribute and trade” drugs, and Mr. Espinosa and his slain father, Albuera, Leyte Mayor Roland Espinosa Sr. as the source of the illegal drugs.

Ms. Loja pointed out the absence of Mr. Adorco, also named a respondent in the complaint, in yesterday’s hearing. “Considering the crime imputed to my client is very grave, we find it [that] he should be presented so that he can subscribe to his affidavits and verify if his claims are true,” she said.

She assured that her client is not running away and is “here to face the charges against him.” She added: “We will be advising him that today’s setting is for scheduling of filing of counter-affidavit.”

The younger Espinosa was also present at Monday’s hearing, while a representative from the Bureau of Corrections (BuCor), Superintendent Roberto Rabo represented convicted drug lord Peter Co.

Assistant State Prosecutors Aristotle Reyes and John Michael Humarang set the next hearing on Aug. 24, 10:00 a.m., for the submission of counter-affidavits. The respondents were required to attend the hearing.

Others named respondents in the case are Max Miro, Lovely Adam Impal, Ruel Malindangan and Jun Pepito.

RELATED ARTICLESMORE FROM AUTHOR