Umali hurt by Dayan’s nonappearance in congressional probe

Rep. Reynaldo Umali outside the Quezon City Hall of Justice after the hearing of Sen. Leila De Lima’s disobedience to summons case in QC RTC Br. 34 where he was set for cross-examination at the witness stand. INQUIRER PHOTO/LYN RILLON

House justice committee chairman Rep. Reynaldo Umali said he was “personally injured” when Senator Leila de Lima’s former aide Ronnie Dayan attempted to avoid the congressional hearings after the senator purportedly influenced the latter not to testify on her alleged drug involvement in 2016.

Umali said this when he faced the hearing at the Quezon City Metropolitan Trial Court branch 34 on the disobedience of summons he and other House leaders filed against De Lima.

Escorted by policemen, De Lima also appeared before the court to attend the hearing after she was freed temporarily from her detention cell inside Camp Crame.

Quizzed by De Lima’s counsel during the cross examination, Umali said he filed the case on his personal capacity as he considered the issue as an “affront” to him as the panel chair, as well as the House of Representatives as an institution.

Umali, Speaker Pantaleon Alvarez, and House Majority Leader Rodolfo Fariñas alleged in their complaint that De Lima induced her former aide, Ronnie Dayan, not to appear in the House hearings. Dayan later showed up in the congressional inquiry, and testified on the drug-related accusations against his former boss.

But the senator’s counsel, lawyer Teddy Rigoroso, was able to establish that the complainants had no personal knowledge about De Lima allegedly inducing Dayan to evade the hearings.

In an ambush interview after the one-hour hearing, Umali said he and his members of the House committee were “dampened” because of the personalities they invited to the hearing disobeyed the panel.

“Nagkagulo-gulo kami sa House, pati PNP (Philippine National Police) hinuli (si Dayan), gumastos, tinira kami noong nakulong si Dayan sa amin dahil di daw appropriate ‘yung House sa pag-detain kay Dayan,” he said.

(We all got messed up at the House, including the PNP when Dayan was arrested, we spent and got criticized when Dayan was detained at the House because they say it was inappropriate.)

Asked if they would consider dropping the case, Umali said: “Hindi ako gano’n eh (I’m not like that). I always close the loop when I take action… We have an institution and principle to protect.” /jpv