‘Joenel is Leila’s sweetie, not me’
After being romantically linked to her driver, Sen. Leila de Lima may have had intimate relations with a security aide she called “sweetie” and who may have also collected drug money for her, kidnapping convict Jaybee Sebastian said yesterday.
Sebastian made the latest revelation on De Lima’s love life at yesterday’s resumption of the hearing on alleged illegal drug operations at the New Bilibid Prison by the House committee on justice.
In the hearing, Sebastian also contradicted practically all the
testimonies of previous witnesses that he had forced convicted drug lords to contribute to De Lima’s campaign kitty, saying he only dealt with Chinese traders outside the prison facility, and not from within.
He told the committee, chaired by Oriental Mindoro Rep. Reynaldo Umali, that to his knowledge De Lima’s lover was her aide Joenel Sanchez of the Presidential Security Group (PSG) and not her driver Ronnie Dayan. He said he didn’t know Dayan.
“Habang kami ay nagkukuwentuhan, nakita namin sila (De Lima and Sanchez) na nag- holding hands,” recalled Sebastian, adding that he heard De Lima call Sanchez “sweetie.”
Sebastian said Sanchez had even wrongly sent an amorous text message supposedly meant for De Lima but which landed in his cellphone. This made him suspect even more the two really had “romantic relations” despite Sanchez’s repeated denials.
Another supposed lover of De Lima likewise cropped up – apart from Dayan and Metro Manila Development Authority officer Warren Cristobal – identified only as “McCoy.” The latter reportedly entered the picture when Sanchez resigned.
Sebastian confirmed that he heard such rumors. “Siya (McCoy) po ang bagong BF ni
ma’am,” he revealed, bolstering reports McCoy had indeed taken over Sanchez’s task for De Lima.
Sebastian also categorically denied insinuations he had an affair with De Lima.
Sanchez, for his part, maintained he had nothing to do with the P8 million Sebastian supposedly handed to him for De Lima.
“Hindi po totoo iyan,” he said, stressing in his 19 years of service his record remains untainted.
The PSG aide also pointed out his not having sought immunity is proof he’s not lying.