(Eagle News) — Senator Manny Pacquiao moved to cite Ronnie Dayan for contempt after expressing exasperation with him for not allegedly revealing the whole truth during the Senate inquiry into the killing of Albuera, Leyte Mayor Rolando Espinosa.
Pacquiao said his head was aching whenever he would question Dayan at the Senate investigation.
“Sumasakit ulo ko,” the senator said. “I move that Dayan be cited for contempt.”
Senator Panfilo Lacson then asked if there are any objections to Pacquiao’s motion.
Lacson then read Section 18 of the Senate Rules of Procedure on the contempt procedures. He also earlier cited two Supreme Court rulings which sided with the Senate on persons who had been ordered imprisoned at the national penitentiary for not baring the whole truth during a Senate inquiry.
Asked by Senator Vicente “Tito” Sotto III, if Dayan can be confined too if he is cited for contempt, Lacson said this can be done.
“Yes, that’s the implication we can confine him,” Lacson replied, saying that this is to ensure that senate witnesses would not lie or evade answering questions.
Senator Sotto then joked that Dayan could be sent to Building 14 where the other convicted drug lords are imprisoned.
Pacquiao was earlier questioning Dayan on who else he was receiving money from.
Dayan said it was only Kerwin Espinosa whom he had been dealing with.
He also said that he also got money from former Bureau of Corrections officer-in-charge Rafael Ragos and former Bucor head Franklin Bucayu, but that he did not get any money from inmates at the New Bilibid Prisons.
He admitted that he recommended Ragos and Bucayu to then Justice Secretary Leila De Lima.
Pacquiao said it was hard to believe Dayan that he did not deal with the drug lords at the NBP, when he was known to have influenced De Lima’s decision to appoint heads of BuCor.
He commented that Dayan was able to get money from Espinosa who was in Albuera, Leyte, but not have any contacts with the convicted drug lords who were staying at the NBP.
“This is simply hard to believe,” he said.
Pacquiao also noted that Dayan was inconsistent in his previous testimony in Congress when he testified then that he did not know the cellphone number of Kerwin Espinosa. During Monday’s senate inquiry, however, Dayan already remembered, and said that he knew Kerwin’s number because it was given to him by De Lima.