Lies that bind
Detained Sen. Leila de Lima had denied consistently any association with Jose Adrian Dera who is an alleged coconspirator in the New Bilibid Prison (NBP) narco hub and her nephew in some reports. She even claimed not knowing him. How can the Department of Justice, the National Bureau of Investigation and other groups that filed the drug trafficking charges against her get their facts wrong?
In a statement, De Lima said she did not know the guy from Adam and said connecting him to her is “another grand work of fiction.”
The case filed by the Volunteers Against Crime and Corruption (VACC), which has a long experience in coming up with airtight complaints, stated Dera acted complicitly with De Lima, former Justice undersecretary Francisco Baraan III, Bureau of Corrections (BuCor) director Franklin Bucayu, her paramour Ronnie Dayan, convicted drug-lord Jaybee Sebastian, her security aide Joenel Sanchez and Wilfredo Ely, alleged bagman of Bucayu, in running the drug ring inside the maximum prison facility.
The NBP syndicate was charged of benefiting from the influence and power exercised by the Office of the Secretary of Justice, through then Secretary De Lima.
De Lima, based on the details of the complaint, was alleged to have used her authority to appoint and designate men inside the NBP to ensure the ease of narcotics transactions.
The extent of Dera’s role in the NBP narcotics web remains a mystery, more so with the firm denial of both Dera and De Lima that they knew each other.
Dera was arrested in Angeles, Pampanga early morning of 16 August after more than two years of hiding.
When caught, Dera claimed he was a police asset and that his link to one of the high-profile drug lords in the NBP shabu factory was the result of a police mission.
Dera in his affidavit admitted having trafficked drugs but through an intermediary, who was not De Lima but another drug lord penned inside the NBP.
Strangely, the admission of Dera of doing errands in the distribution of drugs for an NBP inmate with established links to De Lima constitutes strong proof against the senator whether or not the ex-fugitive was a relative, an aide, another boyfriend or as strangers to each other.
The claim of Dera of being an asset was easy to confirm with the Philippine National Police, which had not issued any statement on it after the two years that the issue has been allowed to fester.
In all likelihood, Dera may have good beans to spill on De Lima in strengthening the drug trafficking cases against her; thus, the denial that they knew each other.
With the huge money that Dera admitted handling, which runs to tens of millions of pesos in narcotics proceeds, it would be hard to believe that De Lima had no idea that he existed.
“In all likelihood, Dera may have good beans to spill on De Lima in strengthening the drug trafficking cases against her; thus, the denial that they knew each other.
The VACC complaint quoting inmate Herbert Colanggo and several other witnesses provided the impression of a hands-on De Lima in running the NBP narcotics racket in which she employs only hand-picked individuals like her lover Ronnie Dayan in the drug operations.
Colanggo was the one who testified that he started giving money to De Lima from October 2013, supposedly to fund her 2016 senatorial campaign. The money he delivered amounted to P3 million until the so-called 19 high-profile inmates, including him, were transferred to the National Bureau of Investigation in December 2014 to pave the way for Sebastian taking control of drugs operation in the NBP with De Lima’s blessing.
The transfer of the so-called “Bilibid 19,” comprising Colanggo and other so-called high-value inmates, was “calculated, planned and premeditated” to isolate the drug trade and put it under the control of Sebastian and De Lima.
Prior to the 2013 midterm elections, the VACC said De Lima was reported to have spent P86.15 million mainly for advertisements she contracted during the election campaign. Where would she get the money from? One could not turn a blind eye on her actual source of fund. “She had generous benefactors from inside the Bilibid. This explains why she never had second thoughts in running for one of the highest political positions in the country,” the complaint said.
Dera and the other cohorts of De Lima are trying to wiggle themselves out of the serious allegations of drugs trafficking by feigning they all do not know each other.
De Lima and her cabal have become adept at insulting the intelligence of Filipinos through harebrained reasoning, which also always shows in the senator’s daily “dispatches” that link all the problems of the country and even the world to Rody.
Rody said that dealing with narcotics shrinks the brain, which clearly is the case with the detained senator and her whole NBP mafia.
“De Lima and her cabal have become adept at insulting the intelligence of Filipinos through harebrained reasoning.