De Lima, in a televised interview, admitted her previous illicit affair with her driver-bodyguard, a married man. / AFP PHOTO / TED ALJIBE
(Eagle News) — Justice Secretary Vitaliano Aguirre II said that the admission of Senator Leila de Lima of her illicit affair with her former driver-bodyguard, Ronnie Dayan, would bolster the government’s case against the former justice secretary on her alleged involvement in protecting the illegal drug trade at the New Bilibid Prisons.
De Lima was interviewed by broadcaster and economist Solita “Winnie” Monsod in her program, “Bawal ang Pasaway kay Mareng Winnie” aired by GMA News TV.
Aguirre said that he had already directed the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) to secure a copy of the interview.
“Definitely magagamit yan (it could be used) as evidence. As a matter of fact, I instructed the NBI to get a copy of the footage of that interview,” Aguirre told reporters.
Aguirre said this would belie De Lima’s own allegations that government had just manufactured evidence against her.
“She, herself, admitted of their relationship which she previously denied,” Aguirre said.
De Lima, in her televised interview, admitted she had a relationship with Dayan, a married man, for “a few years.”
Asked why she fell for a “driver-bodyguard,” the lady senator replied, “frailties of a woman.”
“We became so close because I trusted him,” De Lima explained.
Aguirre said that De Lima’s admission gives further weight to the previous testimonies of the NBP inmates that Dayan collected money from the national penitentiary for the former justice secretary.
“An ordinary driver cannot do that,” he noted.
