Dayan insists: I remember Espinosa meeting De Lima in 2014

Ronnie Dayan, former driver-bodyguard of Sen. Leila de Lima, insisted that he received money from alleged drug lord Kerwin Espinosa and gave it to then-Justice Secretary Leila de Lima in 2014.
INQUIRER FILE / GRIG C. MONTEGRANDE

Ronnie Dayan stood by his testimony that he collected money five times from suspected drug lord Kerwin Espinosa and gave it to then-Justice Secretary Leila de Lima in 2014.

Testifying for the first time before the Senate committee on public order and dangerous drugs, Dayan insisted that he collected money five times from Espinosa supposedly for De Lima in 2014.

On the other hand, Espinosa, who was also at the hearing, insisted that he gave money to De Lima through Dayan in 2015.

“Sinabi dito na November 2015 kayo nagkita ni Mr. Dayan saka ni De lima sa Baguio,” Senator Antonio Trillanes IV said to which Espinosa answered yes.

“Mr. Dayan, sinasabi mo 2014?” Trillanes asked again.

“Yun po kasi ang tanda ko na taon,” Dayan said.

The senator then asked Dayan when his affair with De Lima had ended.

“2015. Mga last week of February,” De Lima’s former aide said.

After their relationship ended, Dayan said he also stopped working for De Lima, who was then justice secretary, and just decided to return to his province in Pangasinan.

At this point, Trillanes asked why De Lima would still trust him when they had already ended their affair.

Without waiting for an answer from Dayan, the senator shifted to Espinosa and asked about the latter’s supposed meeting with De Lima and Dayan in Burnham Park in November 2015.

Espinosa reiterated that he gave the money to Dayan at the parking lot of the park.

Dayan, still responding to Trillanes’ query, confirmed that he received the money from Espinosa at a parking lot near Burnham Park.

But in his testimony before the House of Representatives’ justice committee, Dayan claimed that Espinosa handed him the money on November 19, 2014, at Alexandria Residence in Baguio City where Espinosa had checked in for the night.

Testifying at the hearing, a cousin of Espinosa said the meeting happened in Baguio on Nov. 19, 2015, and they stayed at Hotel Alexandra. It was the cousin who booked the stay of Espinosa at the hotel during the supposed meeting.

Sr. Supt. Ramil Ladiong Saculles, acting director of the Baguio City police office, also testified that their records showed that the De Lima was in the Summer Capital on Nov. 19, 2015.

Meanwhile, Espinosa stood by his claim that it was Albuera Police Director Chief Inspector Jovie Espenido who introduced him to Dayan.

Both Espenido and Dayan denied Espinosa’s allegation. CBB/rga

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