Dayan insists he collected funds ‘only from Kerwin’
De Lima dares Ronnie Dayan, Kerwin Espinosa: Just tell the truth
RONNIE Dayan, the former driver and bodyguard of Sen. Leila de Lima, maintained that he collected money intended for the campaign funds of his former boss only from Eastern Visayas drug lord Kerwin Espinosa and not from anyone else.
“No one else. That was what Ma’am (De Lima) told me,” Dayan said during the resumption of the Senate probe.
During the congressional hearing on the proliferation of illegal drugs in the National Bilibid Prison (NBP), several inmates from the national penitentiary claimed giving money to Dayan intended for de Lima, who was then the justice secretary.
However, Dayan denied the accusations of several inmates, saying that it was only from Espinosa that he collected money, following the instruction of de Lima.
He also said he knew Espinosa as an engineer and not a drug lord.
For his part, Espinosa claimed that Dayan only knew him as an engineer and only de Lima knows his illegal drug operations.
“I am known in the Bilibid so I am sure that she (de Lima) knew what I had been doing,” he said.
Senator de Lima. meanwhile, challenged Dayan and Espinosa to tell the truth.
“It’s not a matter of choosing which testimony is true because they are both lying,” de Lima said in Filipino, referring to both Dayan and Espinosa’s testimonies.
The senator, quoting Senate President Pro-Tempore Franklin Drilon, cited “irreconcilable inconsistencies” between the testimonies of the two witnesses which she said were “very serious, very glaring.”
“I know Ronnie Dayan knows that he does not know you,” de Lima told Espinosa crushing the self-confessed drug lord’s claim that Dayan knew him.
She also pointed out the few times she was in Baguio City was after filing her certificate of candidacy to run as senator in the May elections was in November 2015 and March 2016 and not 2014 as Dayan claimed.
“There could not be any conversation between Kerwin and Ronnie because they do not know each other and even Espenido,” de Lima said referring to Albuera Police head Chief Inspector Jovie Espenido.
To recall, Dayan claimed that de Lima facilitated the meeting.
However, Espinosa insisted that Espenido contacted Dayan to talk to him.
De Lima said that she did not hold a grudge against those who implicated her in the illegal drug trade but those who forced them to do so.
“I’m telling you I forgive you, I forgive all of you. I’m not mad at you, I’m mad at people who use you. You are both vulnerable. You are being used to destroy me and I will know in due time who they are,” de Lima said.
“Just tell the truth. Trust the Senate,” she added, assuring both witnesses that they will be granted with protection if they do so.