Senator Leila de Lima. NOY MORCOSO III/INQUIRER.net FILE PHOTO
Justice Secretary Vitaliano Aguirre II on Tuesday said that Senator Leila de Lima’s admission of a romantic affair with her former driver has strengthened the disbarment case filed against her.
The Volunteers Against Crime and Corruption (VACC), together with former NBI officials Reynaldo Esmeralda and Ruel Lasala and whistle blower Sandra Cam, in a disbarment complaint accused De Lima of gross immorality, violation of the Lawyers Oath and the Code of Professional Responsibility.
READ: Admission of romance with Dayan boosts raps vs De Lima—Aguirre
Aside from allegations of benefiting from the illegal drug trade inside the Bilibid, the complainants also mentioned De Lima’s alleged illicit relationship with her former driver Ronnie Dayan.
The complaint cited the testimony of Joenel Sanchez, a former close-in aide of De Lima and member of the Presidential Security Group, who before the Congress said he saw the two videos of De Lima when he managed to pry into Dayan’s phone. Sanchez also described De Lima’s closeness to Dayan.
“Measured against the definition of gross immorality, we find Senator De Lima’s actions grossly immoral. Her actions were so corrupt as to approximate a criminal act, for she has a relationship with a married man, who in all appearances, was married to another and with whom he has a family. Her actions were also unprincipled and reprehensible to the highest degree,” the complaint stated.
“All these taken together leads to the inescapable conclusion that respondent (De Lima) was grossly imprudent in managing her personal affairs. The fact remains that her relationship with Ronnie Dayan, a married man, is grossly immoral. Worse, she never denied such relationship,” it added.
De Lima, in admitting her relationship with Dayan in an interview with “Bawal ang Pasaway kay Mareng Winnie,” said it was due to the “frailties of a woman.”
READ: De Lima finally admits romance with Dayan
Following her admission on national television, Aguirre said complainants no longer need to prove their allegation because De Lima herself admitted the relationship.
“Malaki ang epekto nito sa disbarment cases sa kanya. Wala nang duda ngayon na nakipagrelasyon sya sa may asawa (This has a significant effect on the disbarment cases against her. It has proven that she had an illicit affair with a married man),” Aguirre said.
Regardless if Dayan is separated, he said “as long as the marriage is not annulled or legally separated, such a relationship is not allowed under the law.”
“The Supreme Court is consistent in imposing the ultimate penalty of disbarment in these kinds of cases,” he added.
De Lima has three other pending disbarment cases. All the other cases were filed in 2012.
Private lawyer Agustin Sundiam asked the high court to take disciplinary action against De Lima and former presidential spokesperson Atty. Edwin Lacierda for their utterances and remarks on national television where they called Chief Justice Renato Corona a “lawless tyrant.”
Sundiam said the two secretaries violated their oath as lawyers requiring them to “observe and maintain the respect and dignity due to the courts of justice and judicial offers.”
The other complaints against De Lima were filed separately by Atty. Ricardo Rivera and Fernando Perito, Nephtali Aliposa, both about De Lima’s alleged defiance in following a Supreme Court temporary restraining order issued November 2011 when she stopped former President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo and her husband Jose Miguel “Mike” Arroyo from leaving the Philippines in 2011. RAM/rga
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