MANILA — Malacañang on Thursday asked businessman and suspected drug personality Peter Lim to surrender and prove his innocence in court.
“We’re asking Peter Lim, please surrender. If you are innocent, prove your innocence in court,” Presidential Spokesperson Harry Roque said in a Palace media briefing.
Roque, however, clarified that he was not appealing to the alleged drug lord, who remains at large, as tracker teams have been formed to find him.
“I’m just saying surrender. I’m not appealing. I’m just saying if you don’t surrender, we will still get you,” he said.
Roque said the government will guarantee that Lim would be accorded a fair trial if he decides to surrender.
“If you’re innocent, then, we guarantee that you will be given your day in court. I think we have proven to the whole world, that we have an independent judiciary,” he said.
“You have nothing to fear by way of being a victim of injustice. We have competent courts, so I think, he should surrender,” he added.
Roque clarified that President Rodrigo Duterte does not know Lim personally although both, in one occasion, stood as wedding sponsors.
Lim, he explained, is technically a fugitive from the law “because there is a warrant of arrest against him.”
Roque said Lim remains the subject of the manhunt and that there is no information yet whether the businessman from Cebu has left the country.
According to media reports, Lim’s lawyers claimed that their client has not been communicating with them.
The Makati City Regional Trial Court issued warrant of arrest on Aug. 14 against Lim for a drug case filed by the Department of Justice.
Lim and several others, including self-confessed drug dealer Kerwin Espinosa, have been charged with conspiracy to commit illegal drug trading. (Jelly Musico/PNA)
