The National Bureau of Investigation has issued an invitation to Cebu-based businessman Peter Lim who was implicated by President Rodrigo Duterte in the illegal drug trade in the country.
After meeting with Justice Secretary Vitaliano Aguirre II, NBI director Dante Gierran disclosed that Lim was scheduled to appear in the NBI headquarters in Manila, but failed to do so because he was not feeling well.
Gierran said Lim was then expected to appear before the NBI instead at a latter date this week.
Aguirre, for his part, stressed that the NBI’s parallel probe of Lim was prompted by the businessman’s meeting with President Duterte, who recently announced that a certain “Peter Lim” was among the biggest illegal drug operators in the country.
The Justice secretary said the NBI has been specifically tasked to “verify” if the businessman and the person tagged as head of the drug triad in the country who is being protected by the so-called “narco-generals” are same person.
“Since Peter Lim came forward to talk to the President and clear himself, then the order there is really for Peter Lim—together with the agencies—to prove that he has nothing to do with drugs. But if there is involvement, then the police agencies and the NBI will file the necessary case against Peter Lim for preliminary investigation,” Aguirre said.
Aguirre said the President has directed him “to use all the resources of the department to go after drug lords, and cases of graft and corruption and heinous crimes.”
When asked if there is a need for the Department of Justice to issue a lookout bulletin against Lim, Aguirre said there is a need first for “preliminary findings on his alleged involvement in drugs.”
“As of now, we have not received any negative finding yet,” he admitted.
Aguirre also noted that the name Peter Lim, as shown by Bureau of Immigration records, is so common that there are 40,000 people in the country with the same name.
Besides Lim, Duterte has identified two other drug traffickers in the country, Peter Co and Herbert Colangco, both serving sentence at the New Bilibid Prison (NBP).
In their meeting last Friday night at the regional office of the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) in Davao City, President Duterte threatened to kill Lim if it will be proven that he is among the country’s top drug lords.
Lim told Duterte, whom he supported in the presidential election, that he had nothing to do with illegal drugs.
He admitted that he frequently goes abroad, sometimes for vacation with his family, but again denied having links to illegal drug operations.
Duterte, in response, advised Lim to get himself a lawyer and submit before an investigation of the NBI and DOJ.