I am clean, exec says of drug link

DAGUPAN CITY—Pangasinan Board Member Raul Sison on Tuesday said he was implicated in President Duterte’s drug matrix because he shared the name and hometown of Sen. Leila de Lima’s former driver and bodyguard.

Palisoc is the middle name of both Sison and Ronnie Dayan, and they both live in Barangay Galarin in Urbiztondo town.

Sison held a news conference here to denounce his inclusion in the matrix made public last week by the President, saying Mr. Duterte was fed with wrong information by his political enemies.

The drug matrix, circulated over mainstream and social media, describes Dayan as a recipient of drug money from a policeman. The matrix features an arrow connecting Sison and Dayan.

Citing an account shared by his mother, Sison said Dayan’s grandmother was a second cousin of his mother to establish that he and Dayan were distant relatives.

“I really don’t know why an arrow points at me. There is no description about my participation [in the illegal drug activity],” Sison said.

The matrix also cites a supposed statement from Sison that Pangasinan Rep. Amado Espino Jr. was the richest politician in northern Luzon.

Sison denied giving that description, saying he had always referred to Espino as the “best governor Pangasinan ever had.”

Sison said he has also been asking friends in Urbiztondo about Dayan.

“I found out that Dayan attended grade school and high school in Urbiztondo and then left for Manila to work as jeepney driver. He only came back to the town when he was already a driver of then Justice Secretary Leila de Lima,” he said.

He said he last saw Dayan in July at a cockpit arena in Labrador town. He said he frequented cockfights because he works as a bet manager, from which “I make millions of pesos.”

“Of the more than 1,500 provincial board members in the country, I’m the only one with that job and I am proud of it. That is where I get the money for my family,” Sison said. Gabriel Cardinoza, Inquirer Northern Luzon