A SENIOR Cabinet official said Saturday the continued silence of Senator Leila de Lima regarding her affair with her married driver suggested an admission of complicity as an accessory to adultery.
Chief Presidential Legal Adviser Salvador Panelo, in an interview over government radio dzRB, said: “In law, there is a provision under the Rules of Court that when a statement or a remark is made that requires a person being referred to [should] make a comment–if she fails to make a comment–it means that all the accusations against her were true.”
Earlier, Panelo said De Lima, former chief of the Department of Justice, should answer the allegations by the President instead of grandstanding before media.
“The question that the good senator should respond to is: Is the information given by President Duterte on her true or not? In her press conference she called she did not deny nor refute the information,” Panelo told the Manila Standard.
Meanwhile, House leaders gave assurances that Congress will carry out a fair and objective probe on Senator De Lima and the proliferation of illegal drugs at the New Bilibid Prison during her tenure as Justice secretary.
Surigao del Norte Rep. Robert Ace Barbers, chairman of the House committee on illegal drugs which may handle the congressional investigation, said he supports the action of Speaker Pantaleon Alvarez to file House Resolution 105 to find out the reasons why there had been an abundance of illegal drugs inside the national prison under De Lima’s watch.
“We support the call of the House leadership to conduct a congressional investigation in aid of legislation as to reasons why the rampant drug use inside the New Bililid Prison coincidentally happened during the stint of then Secretary and [now] Senator De Lima,” Barbers told the Manila Standard.
Duterte had said De Lima was the only one who was not aware that she had a “driver-lover” whom she failed to acknowledge all this time while facing the media.
On Saturday, De Lima admitted, however, that Ronnie Dayan was indeed her long-time “driver-bodyguard” even before entering government, but kept mum about her alleged affair with him.
“The Ronnie Dayan that they are saying, he was really my driver-bodyguard even before I was a private practitioner, before I entered government,” De Lima told reporters Saturday.
“Napalapit po siya sa akin pero kung gaano man siya kalapit sa akin, ipagpaumanhin ninyo pero ayoko na po munang pwedeng [He became close to me, but how close, I would have to beg off going into details]—I don’t want to touch on that kasi personal na mga bagay na po yan at ayaw ko pong nalilihis sa aking trabaho [this is already personal and I do not want to be derailed in my job],” she said.
“Wala na po siya sa akin pero may komunikasyon pa rin kami hanggang ngayon [He is no longer with me but our communication lines are open],” she added.
President Rodrigo Duterte earlier said she had only herself to blame for the scandal that has befallen her.
“[De Lima] created the scandal; she know she’s a public official —-but she kept on making scandals herself [when she was chairperson of the Commission on] Human Rights, and doing the same as secretary of Justice,” Duterte told reporters during a visit at Camp Sinsuat in Maguindanao.
Panelo said the President was fed up with De Lima, who served six years as Justice secretary under the Aquino administration but failed to prove her allegations that Duterte was linked to the Davao Death Squad.
“She never filed any criminal complaint against the President. As an official policy, the President welcomes any investigation by any entity or any branch of the government on the extra-judicial killings as in fact he has directed the PNP to investigate the same,” he added.
Barbers said in case the Alvarez’s resolution is referred to his committee, along with several other committees which may conduct the joint investigation, he would ensure the probe will not be based on personalities.
Barbers said: “Of course the investigation will not solely focus on the lady senator. We will dig deeper and [look for] answers why and how the illegal drugs proliferated at the NBP which coincidentally happened during her time.
“There might be other personalities who may be responsible; we will be fair to everybody.”
Alvarez’s resolution noted the NBP has become an “asylum for drug lords, gambling lords, and local ‘mafiosi,’ operating freely within the enclosed facility, imposing control on the inmates, and operating side by side with institutional workers and security personnel.”
Alvarez said he would want the appropriate committees to carry out a “comprehensive” investigation, “in aid of legislation,” on the abundance of illegal drugs at the NBP despite the “Oplan Galugad” operations launched by De Lima during her stint as Justice secretary.
Alvarez, representative of Davao del Norte and secretary general of PDP-Laban, stressed the need for the House to conduct the probe on De Lima despite imminent criticisms that his action may constitute a breach in the long-standing tradition of inter-parliamentary courtesy between the two chambers of Congress.
But Alvarez maintained the House probe will not touch on “extra-judicial killings” of drug suspects as sought by critics of the Duterte administration.
He said it will solely focus on the abundance of illegal drugs inside the national prison under De Lima’s watch.
The House, in plenary session on Monday, is expected to adopt the resolution before referring it to proper committees to begin a probe.