Leila’s worst scenario: Go to jail or get killed

EMBATTLED Senator Leila de Lima, who is facing at least nine drug-related cases before the Supreme Court, the Department of Justice and the Ombudsman, said Wednesday she was ready for the two “worst- case scenarios”―that she might go to jail or be killed.

“I just hope they won’t kill me so that I can put up even a small fight,” De Lima said.

She made her statement even as the Justice department defended the move of the House of Representatives to issue a show-cause order requiring her to explain why she should not be cited in contempt for telling her former driver and lover not to appear before its inquiry into the illegal drug trade inside New Bilibid Prison.

De Lima said it was important for her to prove that she was never involved in the illegal drug trade as Justice secretary.

“They buried me, they buried the truth,” she said.

She said she just needed to weather the storm and wait for the time when the atmosphere was right for telling the truth, and that she face all the charges against him. 

When told that the House leaders were ready to file a disbarment case against her, De Lima said that would just add to her existing cases.

“This is just an addition. I will face them all,” De Lima said.

She assured her former lover Ronnie Dayan that she will not do what he did to her. She said she will not destroy the man who once became part her life.

“I don’t want to destroy him. That’s not my attitude,” De Lima said. 

“I know there’s a reason why he was forced to tell lies about Kerwin Espinosa. That’s a total lie.”

Dayan, a married man, claimed that his relationship with De Lima lasted for seven years. He disclosed some details of their affair before the House committee.

“We are the only ones who know what happened to our relationship. Only we know it,” De Lima said.

“He knows who is at fault why the relationship ended.” 

After being arrested in La Union, Dayan was presented at the congressional inquiry where he alleged that De Lima dissuaded him from showing up at the House. 

He said De Lima had told him the lawmakers would just “feast” on their relationship as part of the Duterte administration’s alleged bid to destroy her reputation.

De Lima also confirmed that she gave Dayan money to build a house in Urbiztondo, Pangasinan, but that amount was not P2 million. 

“When he was building his house, I contributed by tranches but it’s impossible to reach two million. It was by tranches and it was my way of helping him. I’m like that,” she said.