SENATOR Leila de Lima had advised her former bodyguard and lover Ronnie Dayan to go into hiding at the height of the New Bilibid Prison drug scandal, Negros Oriental Rep. Reynaldo Umali said Wednesday.
“He [Dayan] claimed that was the advice of madam,” Umali told a TV interview, referring to De Lima.
Umali said Dayan offered his account during a meeting with House leaders at the Batasan complex Tuesday night.
In the same interview, Umali confirmed that Dayan was indeed arrested by the police, and had not surrendered, as some reports said.
Umali, chairman of the House committee on justice that investigated the proliferation of illegal drugs in the NBP, said Dayan’s arrest would bring closure to the panel’s probe.
The panel will reopen its investigation today [Thursday].
Dayan, who said he accepted millions from the drug lord Kerwin Espinosa for De Lima when she was still Justice secretary, is expected to ask for immunity in exchange for his testimony, but Umali said this would depend on the contents of his affidavit.
A group of lawyers is expected to help Dayan work on his affidavit ahead of Thursday’s hearing.
Officials from the Justice fepartment are also expected to speak at the hearing.
Dayan, when he was presented to the press Tuesday night at the House, said he would seek immunity to protect him from liability if he tells all he knows about the illegal drug trade inside the NBP.
Dayan is under the custody of the House’s Legislative Security Bureau inside the Batasan Pambansa complex in light of the arrest warrant issued against him by the Umali panel for his failure to attend the previous hearings.
Dayan was captured in La Union Tuesday by police who were tipped by Dayan’s relatives about his whereabouts.
Dayan denied receiving money from NBP inmates but said he took payments from Espinosa in 2014 meant for De Lima.