Bong Go's 'close friend' Allan Lim a drug suspect, PDEA says

Senator Bong Go is a close friend of the drug personality Allan Lim, the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) said Wednesday.

PDEA Deputy Director General Renato Gumban made the statement during his presentation on the link of Philippine Offshore Gaming Operators (POGO) firms to the illegal drug trade before the House QuadComm inquiry on POGO-linked crimes.

Gumban said that Allan Lim, who has many aliases and an incorporator of Pharmally corporation which bagged an P11 billion government contract COVID-19 pandemic supplies during the Duterte administration, is a casino junket operator.

“According to this informant [by PDEA], Allan Lim is a close friend of then Special Assistant to the President Christopher “Bong” Go. Allan Lim is involved in the kidnapping of illegal drugs in Cavite but these cases were dismissed in 2015,” Gumban said.

He, however, said PDEA is yet to have any information if Go is indeed involved in illegal drug trade.

“We are still investigating. We don’t have concrete proof yet,” Gumban said when asked by House Deputy Minority Leader France Castro if Go’s friendship with Lim means the former is also involved in illegal drugs.

"What we have are their [Allan Lim] connections with influential people [like Go]," he added.

Go, in response, denied Gumban's statement.

"Hindi po kami close friends ni Allan Lim, at mas lalo pong hindi ako involved sa illegal drugs," Go told reporters in a separate interview. 

(I am not close friends with Allan Lim and most especially, I am not involved with illegal drugs.)

"Sa katunayan, galit po kami sa drug lords (In fact, we hate drug lords)," Go added.

Lin Wei Xiong

PDEA Chief Moro Lazo earlier told the House QuadComm that Allan Lim and drug personality Lin Wei Xiong are one and the same person.

“We were able to talk to a confidential informant. He's a reliable informant. When he talked to us, he hadn't even seen the presentation of [police] Colonel [Eduardo] Acierto before the [House] Committee on Dangerous Drugs," Lazo said.

Acierto has also accused former President Duterte and Go of being friends and protectors of drug suspect Allan Lim in his 2017 report and alleged that his superiors dismissed it without basis.

Quoting the PDEA informant, Lazo said Lin and Allan Lim also went by the names Allan Lin, Jeffrey Lin, Jeff Lin, Ayong, Lin Wei Xiong, and Wen Li Chen.

"These names all are confirmed by the different statements being heard before the QuadComm,” Lazo said.

“He is a drug personality. He was caught in a shabu laboratory in Tagaytay in 2004,” Lazo added in a separate interview.—VAL/AOL, GMA Integrated News