DRIVER’S HOUSE Neighbors of Ronnie Dayan, driver of Sen. Leila de Lima, are keeping mum about President Duterte’s allegation that this house in Urbiztondo, Pangasinan province, was a gift to Dayan from the senator. RAY B. ZAMBRANO/INQUIRER NORTHERN LUZON
URBIZTONDO, Pangasinan—She was listed as “Ms Cardenosa” in the so-called “matrix” of drug personalities that President Duterte said would identify the links of Sen. Leila de Lima to drug syndicates in New Bilibid Prison (NBP).
But the only link that municipal government employee Lani Cardinoza has to the senator was being the original owner of the property where the Dayan family now lives.
Ronnie Palisoc Dayan was the driver-bodyguard of De Lima when she was justice secretary, whom President Duterte claimed was also her lover and the bagman in her alleged transactions with drug syndicates at the NBP.
De Lima has denied the accusations.
Dayan’s family lives in an orange house on a piece of land originally owned by Cardinoza, said Mayor Martin Raul Sison, whose father, board member Raul Sison, was also listed in the matrix released by Mr. Duterte on Thursday.
Vindicated
“I’m trying to ignore the issue because I know that I am clean, my father is clean and we have nothing to do with illegal drugs. I believe that one day we will be vindicated,” said the younger Sison who admitted that his father’s inclusion in the list had alarmed the family.
Cardinoza who, sources said, feared for her life, took a leave of absence on Friday. No one answered the door at her house in Barangay Galarin here when the Inquirer came calling.
“I saw (Cardinoza) last Thursday at the provincial police office in Lingayen and she told me she was afraid,” said Mayor Sison.
The orange house is titled in Dayan’s name and was built on a 7,252-square-meter property owned by Isidro Palisoc, a relative. It is about 100 meters from the white house, which drew media attention when it was reported that De Lima had allegedly bought it as a gift for Dayan.
Very afraid
The white house sits on a 2,482-sq-m lot owned by Dayan’s older sister, Elmita Torreta, according to town assessor Merle Moreno. The house was also titled under Torreta’s name.
“My father [Dayan’s brother-in-law] was angry when he learned about [the rumors saying De Lima had gifted the house to Dayan] because that was our [white] house. My parents worked hard to finance its construction,” said one of Dayan’s nephews, who agreed to speak with the
Inquirer on condition that he would not be identified.
“Anything can happen to us. We are very afraid,” he said, explaining why no one now stays at the white house.
He said his parents bought the property in 2011 and that the house standing there had been renovated and completed only this June.
His parents are migrant workers in Qatar, he added, with his father being a mechanical engineer in an oil company while his mother has just returned home from Qatar. With a report from Gabriel Cardinoza, Inquirer Northern Luzon