Peter Lim out of the country? No confirmation yet, says Palace

Malacañang on Thursday said there is no confirmation yet that suspected drug lord and businessman Peter Lim is already out of the country.

"There is no confirmation of that yet, but we are sure the Justice department will take action — cancel his passport and other documents, and put other jurisdictions on alert," presidential spokesperson Harry Roque said at a press briefing.

Roque also noted that Lim is on the INTERPOL watchlist.

Interior Secretary Eduardo Año last month said authorities received information that Lim, who was indicted on drug charges, has already left the country. The Philippine National Police is verifying this information.

A Makati court ordered Lim’s arrest in August 2018 after it determined there is probable cause to put him, self-confessed drug distributor Kerwin Espinosa, and their other co-accused on trial for a case for conspiracy to commit illegal drug trading. Police, however, had failed to locate Lim at either of his two addresses in Cebu City.

Justice Secretary Menardo Guevarra said Lim has been the subject of an international manhunt since March 2019.

Citing information from the Philippine Center on Transnational Crime, Guevarra said Lim is on the red notice list of INTERPOL, which means he is considered a fugitive.

Roque, meanwhile, shrugged off criticism that Lim's supposed departure from the country is proof that President Rodrigo Duterte's controversial war on illegal drugs catches only the small fish.

“Wanted po si Peter Lim. Wala siyang kalayaan [Lim is a wanted man, he is not free],” he said.

Citing the detention of Senator Leila de Lima, Roque also denied that the government's war on drugs only targets the poor.

“Nakakulong si Senator de Lima, kaya hindi lang mahirap ang tina-target sa war on drugs [Senator de Lima is detained so that does not show that the drug war is only after the poor],”he said.

De Lima, who led a Senate probe into the drug war killings, has been detained since February 2017 over three drug charges filed against her by state prosecutors. One of the charges has been dismissed by the lower cout due to lack of evidence.

State prosecutors have accused de Lima of receiving drug money during her tenure as Justice secretary during the previous administration, an allegation that she has adamantly denied. —KBK, GMA News