Sen. Leila De Lima. INQUIRER FILE PHOTO / GRIG C. MONTEGRANDE
Senator Leila de Lima has confirmed giving financial assistance to her former driver, Ronnie Dayan, for his house in Urbiztondo, Pangasinan but said it was “impossible” her contribution could have reached P2 million.
“Alam mo noon kasi (You know) that was before I joined public service yun, yung una kami sa relasyon (when we started the relationship),” De Lima told reporters on Tuesday when asked about Dayan’s claim that she gave him P2 million for the house.
“Noong nagpagawa sya nyan, nag contribute lang ako ng by tranches pero imposible pong total of P2M yan. By tranches po yan at tulong ko lang po yan. Ganoon po ako,” she said.
(When he was building his house, I contributed by tranches but it’s impossible to reach P2M. It was by by tranches and it was my way of helping him. I’m like that.)
The senator assured that the source of the money did not come from government coffers as she was still then practicing law at that time.
“May pera po ako noon, na unti-unting nawala noong nasa public service na ako, yung mga savings ko (I had money back then, but I started to lose my savings when I joined the public service),” De Lima said.
De Lima and Dayan admitted that they had an affair. Dayan said the affair lasted seven years.
In his testimony at the House of Representatives’ committee on justice, which was investigating the alleged proliferation of illegal drugs at the New Bilibid Prison, Dayan claimed that his former boss paid for P2 million to build the so-called white house in Barangay (village) Galarin while P800,000 came from his own savings.
“Tungkol po sa bahay sa Pangasinan na regalo daw ni Ma’am, ang totoo ay noong 2007, humingi ako kay Ma’am ng P120,000, pambili nung lupa. Sa pagtayo ng bahay, nasa P800,000 ang nanggaling sa ipon ko at yung P2 million galing kay Ma’am,” he said.
(About my house in Pangasinan which was supposed to be Ma’am’s gift to me, the truth is in 2007, I asked P120,000 from her to buy the land. In building the house, P800,000 came from my savings and P2 million came from Ma’am.)
READ: De Lima gave P2M for my Pangasinan house — Dayan
It was also during the same House inquiry where Dayan claimed to have allegedly collected money for De Lima from suspected drug lord Kerwin Espinosa.
De Lima repeatedly denied, however, any involvement in illegal drugs. RAM/rga
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