Who is Arthur Lim?

MANILA, Philippines – The private prosecutor who was almost held in contempt in the impeachment trial against Chief Justice Renato Corona on Wednesday, January 25, played a role in a case that led to the resignation of another Supreme Court justice more than a decade ago.

Arthur Lim’s law firm represented the Eastern Telecommunications Philippines Inc. in a case against the Philippine Long Distance Telephone Company in 1992. The SC, in a decision penned by Justice Hugo Gutierrez, ruled in favor of PLDT, barring Eastern Telecoms from operating an international gateway. In 1993, the Philippine Center for Investigative Journalism reported that Gutierrez plagiarized a draft of the decision written by a legal counsel of the PLDT. Gutierrez resigned.

Today, Lim is one of the 57 private prosecutors in the impeachment trial against Corona. A former president of the Integrated Bar of the Philippines, he signed a manifesto in 2011 supporting the impeachment of Corona.

The lawyer from Sulu was also the counsel for Nur Misuari, founding chair of the Moro National Liberation Front and Sulpicio Lines Inc., the shipping line that operated MV Princess of the Stars, a ship that sunk in 2008.

In 2002, Lim and another lawyer, Paulino Ersando, asked the SC to stop the Balikatan exercises in Mindanao. The Balikatan exercises are the joint training of Filipino and American soldiers. Lim and Ersando lost.

Lim is also the founding chairman of the Lawyers for Reform Movement, which supported presidential aspirant Raul Roco in 2004. Lim is a member of the Sigma Rho fraternity, whose members include Senators Franklin Drilon and Edgardo Angara, and Justice Antonio Carpio. – Rappler.com