RONNIE Dayan, the former boyfriend of Senator Leila de Lima, was released from the Senate custody and allowed to go home Monday night, a few hours after being detained for lying in his testimony and for his “selective memory.”
In an interview, Senator Panfilo Lacson, chairman of the Senate committee on public order and illegal drugs, which is leading the Senate probe into the killing of Albuera, Leyte Mayor Roland Espinosa, said Dayan was escorted back to his house in Urbiztondo, Pangasinan.
“We agreed, anyway, he will make himself available, and besides, his wife and children were there, we took pity on them. So we asked the Senate Office of the Sergeant-At-Arms and the PNP to accompany him,” said Lacson.
Lacson said a SWAT team from the Pangasinan provincial police office escorted him when he left the Senate premises.
“We also requested the PNP to secure Dayan in his house. He said Dayan, also a former driver and bodyguard of De Lima, assured he would be available in case there would be another hearing in the Senate.
“He wanted to say some things yesterday [December 5], but he no longer had the chance. If there will be another hearing, I suppose he would say some things which he hasn’t said yet,” added Lacson.
Before allowing Dayan to leave the Senate premises, Lacson said he and Senators Vicente Sotto and Gregorio Honasan talked to him. “We asked him for a few debriefing,” said Lacson.
“We advised him to compose himself. He should rest his mind so he can remember what ought to be remembered. I think that is a proper approach to reboot his memory because he seemed confused,” Lacson said.
Lacson, the chairman of the Senate Committee on Public Order, indicated that Dayan could still be stressed after hiding and running away from authorities after his and De Lima’s alleged involvement in protecting drug dealers surfaced.
Dayan was detained in the Senate after Senator Manny Pacquiao moved he be cited in contempt for lying and contradicting his own statements. No senator objected to Pacquiao’s suggestion.
Lacson said Dayan was merely called to the Senate hearing after the late mayor’s son Kerwin, tagged as the No. 1 drug lord in the Eastern Visayas region, talked about their connection.
In his testimony, Kerwin said he gave De Lima a total P8 million for her campaign funds in the last May elections. He said he personally handed the money to Dayan.
Lacson also related that during their conversation before his release, they made Dayan recall if there was an incident in 2015 when they went to Leyte at the time De Lima was planning to run for senator.
“He told us they went there because of ‘‘Yolanda’’ [investigation] and they had the opportunity to mingle with local politicians. Of course, if you go there, you will have the chance to talk to the mayors. So we told him to try hard to recall,” said Lacson.
What remains still unclear, Lacson said, was the connection between Kerwin and Dayan since they had reconciled in the hearing last Monday the conflicting dates when the “payolas” were given.
In a separate interview, De Lima indicated there was no basis for her colleagues to cite Dayan in contempt, adding there was a prenotion, and prejudgment that between him and Kerwin, Dayan was lying.
De Lima said: “Both of them are lying insofar as the claim that I dealt with Kerwin. Because as I’ve been telling you, I don’t know him. I have not met him before, I just met him during the first hearing here.
“Of course, I have that photo in Burham Park, because I don’t remember that photo was taken because hundreds of people in Burham and other places in Baguio took photos with me in November 2015 and in March 2016,” said De Lima.
“So what’s the basis, he was evasive? they failed to make him admit my drug links?” asked De Lima who said her telephones were not the only ones being monitored now, but also her movements.
After the hearing last Monday, De Lima said she was informed by her sources the monitoring on her has been heightened.
She said this meant the threats on her had been heightened although she had been under security threats all the time.
“Because I’ve been under security threats all this time since the whole thing has surfaced, this issue, this accusation of my alleged drug links,” said De Lima.
She related that since she started the hearing in the extra judicial killing, the threats have been there.
While she did not increase the number of his security men, she said they are also on full alert.