MANILA, Philippines — Peter Lim, the Cebu businessman described as a friend of President Rodrigo Duterte, is also allegedly one of the biggest drug lords in the Visayas, the police Criminal Investigation and Detection Group told the Department of Justice.
Lim, along with Kerwin Espinosa, the son of the late Albuera, Leyte mayor, Peter Co, Lovely Impal and other alleged drug distributors were named in a complaint for violating the Comprehensive Dangerous Drug Law filed before the DOJ.
The complaint said Marcelo Adorco, described as a henchman of Espinosa who was arrested in Albuera July last year, confirmed Lim’s identity and also said Lim, Co and Impal, described as Co’s “protégé,” supplied drugs to Regions 7 and 8, or Central and Eastern Visayas.
Among the syndicates they dealt with was that run by Espinosa, or “Boss K.”
Soon after he assumed office, Duterte urged Lim, who he had described as one of the top three drug distributors in the country, in a televised meeting to submit himself to an investigation. Lim denied the accusations but promised to heed Dutere’s advice.
Co and Herbert Colanggo, who are both detained at the National Bilibid Prison, were the two others who, with Lim,formed the country’s drug “triad,” according to Duterte.
Espinosa fled the country after he and his father, Albuera Mayor Rolando Sr., were publicly accused of drug trading by Duterte. He was arrested in the Middle East and returned to the country soon after his father was killed in his cell at the Baybay City sub-provincial jail.
The officers involved in the mayor’s killing are out on bail and back at work after the Department of Justice downgraded the charges against them to homicide from murder. Aside from this, Duterte had also promised to pardon them if they are convicted.
In the judicial affidavit he executed last August and a supplemental affidavit on June 21 this year, Adorco detailed the alleged collusion between the Espinosa group and the three suppliers.
In February 2013, he said, the Espinosa group transacted with Lim and Co for 20 kilos each of crystal meth or shabu. The drugs were sold to areas in Bohol, Samar, Leyte, Southern Leyte, Biliran and Cebu controlled by the Espinosas.
In 2014, the Espinosas dealt with Lim four times, and on June 7, 2015, Lim delivered 50 kilos of shabu, Adorco said.
All the deals were sealed at the Cash and Carry store in Makati City.
Three days before the 2015 deal, Adorco he and Espinosa met Lim in Bangkok.
A certification form the Bureau of Immigration confirmed Adorco was out of the country on June 4, 2015.
