Philippine Daily Inquirer

BOMBS EXPLODE OUTSIDE PETER LIM’S OFFICE IN MANDAUE

- —REPORTS FROM NORMAN MENDOZA, FE MARIE DUMABOC AND AD OR VINCENT MAYO L

CEBU CITY— Two improvised bombs exploded early Thursday outside the office of controvers­ial businessma­n Peter Lim at Barangay Subangdaku in Mandaue City.

No one was hurt but the explosion destroyed the bumper of a mini dump truck, the left window of another truck and the main electric switch of Hilton Motors Corp., a heavy equipment dealer in Cebu province.

Damage to the display center was placed by the police at P26,000.

Jun Fuentes, spokespers­on for the Lim family, said: “We leave the matter for authoritie­s to investigat­e. If they want anything from us, the office is open.”

Lim, he said, was in Metro Manila when the explosion happened.

Lim is facing an investigat­ion at the Department of Justice (DOJ) after he was publicly identified by President Duterte as a big-time drug lord, a claim the businessma­n had denied.

The drug traffickin­g charges against Lim were earlier dis- missed by a panel of prosecutor­s.

But public criticisms and a threat from Mr. Duterte prompted then Justice Secretary Vitaliano Aguirre II to reverse the panel’s ruling and order another investigat­ion of the charges against Lim. Aguirre later resigned from his post.

Senior Supt. Roberto Alanas, director of the Mandaue police, said the attack “could be related to a possible business competitio­n or was scripted.”

He formed an inter-agency task force composed of the Explosive Ordnance Disposal Canine Group, the Criminal Investigat­ion and Detection Group in Central Visayas and the Mandaue City police to look into the incident.

 ?? —NORMANMEND­OZA ?? DAMAGE An explosion at Hilton Motors, an establishm­ent owned by controvers­ial businessma­n Peter Lim in Mandaue City, damages a truck.
—NORMANMEND­OZA DAMAGE An explosion at Hilton Motors, an establishm­ent owned by controvers­ial businessma­n Peter Lim in Mandaue City, damages a truck.

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