{"id":156286,"date":"2018-03-13T06:06:48","date_gmt":"2018-03-13T10:06:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/?p=156286"},"modified":"2018-03-13T06:06:48","modified_gmt":"2018-03-13T10:06:48","slug":"aguirre-clarifies-peter-lim-several-others-not-yet-cleared","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/2018\/03\/13\/aguirre-clarifies-peter-lim-several-others-not-yet-cleared\/","title":{"rendered":"Aguirre clarifies: Peter Lim, several others not yet cleared"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"FILE:<\/a>
FILE: Justice Secretary Vitaliano Aguirre II (ACE MORANDANTE\/PRESIDENTIAL PHOTO)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Justice Secretary Vitaliano Aguirre II on Tuesday, March 13, clarified that Cebu businessman Peter Go Lim and other respondents in an illegal drug trade case are not yet cleared even after the Department of Justice (DOJ) dismissed criminal complaints against them.<\/p>\n

\u201cSuffice it to say that the current status of the case against the respondents Peter Lim et al, does not mean that it is a final exoneration of their respective criminal liabilities,\u201d Aguirre said.<\/p>\n

\u201cUnder our present procedure in the DOJ, there are possible avenues to review this case, either by a motion for reconsideration, or ultimately, by way of automatic review by my office,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n

A DOJ panel of prosecutors issued a resolution seeking to dismiss the complaints filed by the Philippine National Police-Criminal Investigation and Detection Group\u2019s Major Crimes Investigation Unit (PNP-CIDG-MCIU) against Lim and other respondents for violating Section 26(b) in relation to Section 5 of Republic Act (RA) No. 9165.<\/p>\n

The resolution was approved by Acting Prosecutor General Jorge Catalan last December 20, 2017.<\/p>\n

Aguirre, however, assured that his department has \u201cno hand nor say on the resolution of this case.\u201d<\/p>\n

He also said that the dismissal of the drug case against Lim and several others should be a \u201cwake up call\u201d to authorities to be \u201cconcerted and thorough.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThe dismissal is a slight bump on our war against drugs. It is likewise a wakeup [call] to all concerned that our efforts\u2013from apprehension to resolution to conviction\u2013must be concerted and thorough,\u201d Aguirre said.<\/p>\n

\u201cHowever, we remain committed to waging the war on drugs,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n

Apart from Lim a.k.a Jaguar, those who have been cleared in the complaint were Rolan \u201cKerwin\u201d Espinosa, Peter Co, Marcelo L. Adorco, Max Miro, Lovely Impal, Jun Pepito, Jermy, Ricky, Warren, Tupie, Jojo, Jaime, Yawa, Lapi, Royroy, Maron, Bay, John Doe, Peter Doe, Robert Doe, and several unidentified others.<\/p>\n

The DOJ said that other law enforcement agencies can still file cases against the mentioned individuals if they are \u201cindeed involved in illegal drug activities.\u201d<\/p>\n

However, the justice department stressed that these agencies should \u201crefrain from filing cases on the basis solely of an uncorroborated testimony of an evidently self-serving witness.\u201d<\/p>\n

On the same day, Presidential Spokesperson Harry Roque said that the government would support the refiling of a new case backed by additional evidence against the alleged drug lord and his co-respondents.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf, upon review, the DOJ finds reason to reverse the dismissal, then it will be reversed. If, however, it is necessary to file additional evidence, we will prompt the police authorities to do so,\u201d Roque said.<\/p>\n

The Palace official added that they will not allow a big fish to escape if there is evidence to go after him. He also assured the public that the dismissal of the complaints against Lim, Espinosa, Co, and others is \u201cfar from being final.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Justice Secretary Vitaliano Aguirre II on Tuesday, March 13, clarified that Cebu businessman Peter Go Lim and other respondents in …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":33,"featured_media":133920,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1145,16,95],"tags":[48139,26133,13864,48138],"class_list":["post-156286","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-headline","category-news","category-news-ph","tag-criminal-complaints","tag-dismissal","tag-justice-secretary-vitaliano-aguirre-ii","tag-peter-go-lim","mauthors-joanna-belle-deala","mauthors-philippine-canadian-inquirer"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/156286","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/33"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=156286"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/156286\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/133920"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=156286"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=156286"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=156286"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}