Peter Lim to DOJ: ‘Public outrage is not evidence’

"The 'pulse of the people' and 'public outrage' are not evidence."

This was how lawyers for Peter Lim, the businessman accused by the police of conspiracy to commit illegal drug trading, explained their bid for the Department of Justice (DOJ) to set aside its ex-chief's order for a further probe into the dismissed complaint against him and other suspected drug personalities.

"Due process is the rule of law. It should not be overtaken by a mob-rule, as what happened in this case. After all, ours is a 'government of laws and not of men," said Lim through his lawyers in a motion for reconsideration received by the DOJ Office of the Secretary on Monday.

The motion stated that the public uproar triggered by the scrapping of the drug complaint against several personalities, including Lim and Kerwin Espinosa, for lack of evidence "can never be considered as legal basis" for resigned Justice secretary Vitaliano Aguirre II to have ordered the dismissal "vacated."

Lim's camp said it found Aguirre's decision to issue the March 19 order, the directive that remanded the case to a new panel of prosecutors, in consideration of the public's reaction "absolutely erroneous, if not arbitrary."

Assailing Aguirre's two-paragraph order, the Lim motion claimed it does not appear the erstwhile Justice chief "actually reviewed the records of this case."

"There is no discussion whatsoever on the evidence presented by complainant, much less any error in the findings on which the resolution is based," the motion read. 

"Intriguingly, despite the voluminous records of this case, which include multiple counter-affidavits from the respondents and the parties' respective memoranda, it took the Secretary of Justice only one week to vacate the resolution without citing any factual or legal basis therefor," it added.

The motion will be acted upon by Menardo Guevarra, the newly-appointed Secretary of Justice.

The new panel from the National Prosecution Service started its further preliminary investigation into the complaint of the police Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (CIDG) on Thursday afternoon.

Lim's motion cited statements of public officials, including President Rodrigo Duterte as quoted by his spokesperson Harry Roque, Vice President Leni Robredo, Senator Grace Poe, and police chief Director General Ronald dela Rosa, in claiming that Aguirre's order was "impulsively issued."

It also cited Aguirre's apparent admission, as quoted in a news report, that his directive for a case re-investigation was influenced by the public's reaction on the complaint dismissal.

"The reopening of this case for further reception of evidence, after its dismissal due to insufficiency of evidence, reeks of bias and prejudice against Mr. Lim. It is apparent that Mr. Lim's constitutional rights were set aside in the hope that complainant will be able to provide some credible evidence to support its malicious persecution of Mr. Lim," it also said.

Lim had asked the new panel for a separate preliminary investigation, saying the alleged transactions between himself and Espinosa were "separate, distinct and totally unrelated" from those between Espinosa and alleged drug supplier Lovely Impal.

On Thursday, Senior Assistant State Prosecutor Juan Pedro Navera ordered the CIDG to comment on this motion by April 17, and Lim's lawyers to reply to the comment by April 22. — RSJ, GMA News