(Eagle News) — Malacanang welcomed the news of the arrest of Ronnie Dayan, the former driver-bodyguard of Senator Leila de Lima, saying this would lead to uncovering the truth behind allegations made by various witnesses on the proliferation of illegal drugs at the New Bilibid Prisons.
Dayan has been tagged by high profile inmates at the NBP as the alleged bagman of former justice secretary. De Lima recently admitted that she had an illicit affair with Dayan, a married man, “for a few years.”
“We welcome the arrest of Mr. Ronnie Dayan. We hope that Mr. Dayan’s arrest would lead to the uncovering of truth in the proliferation of drugs in Bilibid and for the guilty to be punished,” said the Malacanang statement read by Assistant Presidential Communications Secretary Anna Marie Banaag.
“We owe this to the future generation of Filipinos to have a drug-free society,” continued the Malacanang statement.
The Department of Justice also issued a statement saying the Dayan’s arrest would “tie up loose ends” on the cases filed against Senator De Lima.
His (Dayan) capture will tie up the loose ends and supply the missing links in the cases before the DOJ,” Justice Secretary Vitaliano Aguirre II said in a statement.
Police arrested Dayan before noon Tuesday, November 22, in La Union after more than a month of manhunt operations based on the order of the House of Representatives to arrest him for not showing up in its investigation into the illegal drugs trade at the NBP.
Dayan is also a co-respondent of De Lima in several drug trafficking complaints filed before the DOJ.