Customs, immigration men in Cebu aided shabu entry?

CEBU CITY — Two former trusted employees of Cebu businessman Peter Go Lim have implicated Customs and immigration officers at the Mactan airport of complicity in the alleged illegal drug activities of the trader and his brother.

The two witnesses, Ananias Dy and Bernard Liu, told members of the House committee on dangerous drugs in a public hearing here that Lim and his brother Wellington were allegedly engaged in the smuggling of shabu from Hong Kong.

But police officers testifying in the same hearing at the Sacred Heart Center came to Lim’s rescue, saying that the Chinese-Filipino trader, a heavy equipment dealer and KTV bar operator, was not in any list of suspected drug traffickers.

Liu, who used to manage the nightclubs owned by Lim, said he was privy to the illegal activities of his former boss because he was with him in three occasions between 1989 and 1996 to get shabu from a certain David Kam in Hong Kong.

Liu said he was not aware if Kam was a member of the Hong Kong triad.

Shabu in golf sets

Liu said they brought in at least 10 kilos of shabu in each of those three occasions without being detected by security personnel at the Mactan Cebu International Airport.

Liu said they usually placed the shabu inside golf sets Lim bought in Hong Kong.

He said the Customs and immigration officers themselves were the ones who occasionally facilitated the clearing of their baggage.

Dy, who served as Lim’s bodyguard for 21 years, similarly testified that Lim was engaged in drug trafficking.

Container van

Dy said he was able to confirm this when he was assigned to escort a container van to Manila. The van was subsequently intercepted by men of then Customs Commissioner Vicente Parayno.

Dy and Liu are now under the custody and protection of the National Bureau of Investigation.

Rep. Antonio Cuenco, who heads the House committee on dangerous drugs, said the testimonies of Dy and Liu were enough to charge Lim for drug trafficking.

Cuenco, however, said Lim will be given the chance to air his side before the committee and will be invited to an executive meeting tomorrow.

Lim, in a statement prepared by his lawyer, Elias Espinosa, said the testimonies of Liu and Dy should not be given credence because they have an ax to grind against him and his brother.

Lim said the witnesses were formerly employed at his Hilton Heavy Equipment Corp. but were terminated for cause.

Dy, Liu and a certain Carlos Fuentes sued Lim in the National Labor Relations Commission for illegal termination but the case was dismissed by labor arbiter Ernesto Carreon on Aug. 25, 2000 for lack of merit.

Dy was terminated for allegedly mauling a co-worker, Duke Echeverri, in Lim’s presence. It was not clear, however, what caused Liu’s dismissal.

Wellington Lim, for his part, said he does not deny that he brought Liu to Hong Kong but that he and his brother were with their families during that trip.

He said it would be illogical for them to attempt to smuggle illegal drugs into the country during those trips because such an act would endanger their families.

Cuenco has ax to grind?

Aside from trying to discredit the testimonies of Dy and Liu, Peter Lim, in his statement, also tried to cast doubts on the objectivity of Cuenco, claiming the lawmaker also has an ax to grind against him.

"It is just a pity that instead of going to the proper courts for further appeal, the witnesses instead went to the congressional hearing. And they might have found a ready and willing champion in the person of Rep. Antonio Cuenco, who also appears to have some personal ax to grind against Mr. Lim," the statement said.

Earlier exposé

The statement cited an earlier privilege speech by Cuenco where he named Lim as a suspected drug lord included in a police watchlist.

Lim’s alleged involvement in drug trafficking, however, was unsubstantiated by evidence.

The name of Peter Lim also surfaced during a Senate investigation into the alleged involvement of Sen. Panfilo Lacson in drug trafficking and money laundering.

Former undercover agent Mary Ong, alias Rosebud, testified that a certain Peter Lim of Cebu had connections with the Hong Kong triad.

Regional anti-narcotics chief Vicente Loot, however, told the House panel that Lim was not in their updated watchlist of suspected drug traffickers in the Central Visayas.

Loot said he does not have enough evidence to prove Lim’s involvement in illegal drugs. — Freeman News Service