Dayan faces House today.
The House of Representatives will reopen today its investigation on the alleged links of Sen. Leila de Lima to the illegal drug trade, this time with her former driver-bodyguard-lover Ronnie Dayan as main witness.
According to Oriental Mindoro Rep. Reynaldo Umali, head of the House committee on justice, their invitation to De Lima to attend the hearing and clear her name still stands, noting that previous testimonies of several self-confessed drug lord- inmates with regard to her liability remain “uncontroverted.” Dayan, now under protective custody of the House after his arrest in a mountainous area in Pangasinan Tuesday, denied receiving money from the inmates but confirmed getting campaign funds for De Lima from another selfconfessed drug lord, Kerwin Espinosa.
Dayan was accompanied by members of his family when he arrived at the House on Tuesday night.
He also had a haircut and watched the Senate inquiry into the death of Espinosa’s father, Albuera town mayor Rolando Espinosa inside his prison cell in Leyte.
“I did not receive money from drug lords, from Kerwin, I did… for the senator,” Dayan told House Majority Leader Rodolfo Fariñas, who was present during the Philippine National Police’s turnover of Dayan to Speaker Pantaleon Alvarez.
Dayan said he was just following De Lima’s orders to collect money when the senator was still justice secretary.
Dayan said he started receiving money in 2014 before De Lima decided to run for senator.
All in all, he said he received money from Espinosa five times, adding he resigned from his job as De Lima’s driver and bodyguard sometime in 2015.
Dayan could not say how much he received, claiming he never tried to count the money.
“After ( the money) was handed to me, I’d place it in the car. Upon arrival in the house, I would place (it somewhere)… she would already know for sure (where it was), of course she would look at it,” Dayan said.
‘Unrebutted’
De Lima’s alleged links to drug cartels remain uncontroverted with the similar testimonies of all the inmatewitnesses who testified before the House committee on justice, Umali said, noting it would be up to De Lima to refute the testimonies of the drug lord-witnesses from the New Bilibid Prison, along with National Bureau of Investigation officials and a member of the Presidential Security Group.
While the senator mostly issued blanket denials and claims of political persecution from her nemesis President Duterte, she has yet to produce a single witness to prove her innocence.
All of the convicts – kidnapper-carjacker Jaybee Sebastian, Herbert Colanggo, Tony Co, former Police Officer 3 Engelberto Durano, PSG aide Joenel Sanchez, Nonilo Arile and retired police major Rodolfo Magleo – said they raised funds and gave money to De Lima.