THE Department of Justice (DOJ) has given suspected narcotics supplier and alleged "Drug Queen of the South" Lovely Impal more time to submit her affidavit in reply to the drug-related charges filed against her by the Central Visayas police.
This developed after Impal failed to appear anew in Wednesday's preliminary hearing into the complaints filed against her along with alleged Visayas drug lords Kerwin Espinosa and Peter Lim for violation of Section 26 (b) (conspiracy) in relation to Section 5 (sale) of the RA 9165 or the Comprehensive Dangerous Drugs Act of 2002.
The panel of prosecutors led by Assistant State Prosecutor Aristotle Reyes said Impal would be given until September 12 to submit her counter-affidavit by mail.
To avoid further delay, Reyes also authorized Impal to subscribe to her affidavit before an Iligan City prosecutor, as she is currently detained at the Bureau of Jail Management and Penology (BJMP) in Iligan for other drug-related cases.
The panel has scheduled another hearing on September 12 for the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (CIDG) to file their reply to the respective counter-affidavits submitted by respondents: Lim, Espinosa and New Bilibid Prison (NBP) inmate Peter Co.
The complaints filed by the CIDG-Central Visayas against the respondents stemmed from the arrest of Marcelo Adorco, an alleged former employee of Espinosa.
Adorco, also a respondent in the complaint, in his affidavit, divulged the "conspiracy" existing among the Espinosa group and the drug suppliers in Central Visayas and Eastern Visayas he identified as Lim, Co and Impal. (VoxPop Philippines)
