LINGAYEN, PANGASINAN—A relative of Sen. Leila de Lima’s former driver, Ronnie Palisoc Dayan, has urged him to surrender “to clear our name.”
By turning himself in, Dayan would be able to defend himself and “restore dignity to the middle name Palisoc” which they shared, said Board Member Raul Sison, who was implicated and then cleared by President Duterte recently as a supposed illegal drugs protector.
Sison and Dayan also live in Barangay Galarin in Urbiztondo town in Pangasinan province.
Last week, the House of Representatives justice committee cited Dayan in contempt for snubbing its inquiry into the proliferation of drugs at New Bilibid Prison. An arrest warrant had been issued against him to compel him to attend the committee hearing.
“As your distant relative, you should clear our name, which has been so tainted. I am embarrassed every time I’m introduced with that name,” Sison said.
Sison, whose mother is a cousin of Dayan’s grandmother, said he and Dayan were not close.
He advised Dayan to disclose everything he knew about the illegal drug trade inside the national penitentiary. “No one can defend you except yourself,” Sison said.
Senior Supt. Ronald Oliver Lee, Pangasinan police director, said his men had not located Dayan, who was no longer in Urbiztondo.
Sison said he did not believe Dayan’s immediate relatives in Galarin had no clue as to the driver’s whereabouts.
“They always tell people they do not know (where Dayan is). But he is your brother. It’s impossible that you do not know where he is,” Sison said.
Dayan’s sister, Elmita Torreta, is a member of the village council.
Sison said he had not received any surrender feelers from Dayan. He said the last time he had a talk with Dayan was about a week before rumors circulated about an alleged affair between De Lima and the driver in July.
Days after the rumors broke out, Dayan approached another relative to ask for help. “But nothing came out of it because he had since left the village,” Sison said.