Senator Leila De Lima gestures during a press conference she called at the Senate. JOSEPH VIDAL / PRIB
Sen. Leila de Lima said on Monday that apparently Jaybee Sebastian was “pushed to the wall” after the convicted kidnapper testified against her at the House inquiry on allegations she benefited money from drug lords inside the New Bilibid Prison.
READ: Sebastian denies being De Lima’s ‘favored’ drug lord
“Apparently and obviously, (Sebastian) could no longer take the pressure,” De Lima told reporters, reminding that she had previously said sources had told her Sebastian was being forced to testify against her.
She also said a source told her that Sebastian was the real “target” of the brawl that happened inside NBP last month where he and other inmates were stabbed. Another inmate was killed in the incident.
“That could only be the explanation why he (Sebastian) could no longer take the pressure. He has heeded his wife who had pleaded to him to follow whatever they told him to do because they were only after De Lima. De Lima will understand it later,” the senator quoted her source as saying.
Told that Sebastian had denied he was a government asset, she said that former Bureau of Corrections chief Franklyn Bucayu and other officials were the ones who told her that the convict had informed them of what was happening inside the national penitentiary.
De Lima said apparently Sebastian was lying because he was also pressured to do so. CBB/rga
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