MANILA, Philippines – The Department of Justice on Thursday, September 1, said it is investigating the alleged bank account of Senator Leila de Lima’s former driver Ronnie Dayan.

Justice Secretary Vitaliano Aguirre II said Dayan owns the bank account that supposedly received millions of pesos from De Lima when she was still justice secretary.

Aguirre said a certain Jonathan “Jong” Caranto,” DOJ employee, submitted an affidavit claiming the senator ordered him to deposit millions of pesos to the bank account.

Caranto was one of two employees who reportedly executed affidavits against their former boss. 

“Binibigyan daw s’ya ng pera ni De Lima para i-deposit dun sa account ni Dayan,” Aguirre said. (He said De Lima was giving him money to deposit to Dayan’s account.)

Aguirre, however, is still uncertain how the alleged bank account of Dayan would be linked to De Lima, if at all.

“Hindi pa nga tapos ‘yung investigation namin, so tingnan natin kung paaano mali-link, kung mali-link ba ‘yun sa kanya o hindi,” the secretary said, referring to the President’s fiercest critic.

(Our investigation is not yet done, so we will still see how it is linked, whether it could be linked to her or not.)

The President earlier accused Dayan of being De Lima’s lover and bagman, collecting payoffs from drug lords inside the New Bilibid Prison.

De Lima has denied her link to illegal drugs, claiming whatever evidence her enemies present against her would likely be fake.

Forced affidavit?

De Lima said the affidavits of her two former employees are “fabricated,” accusing Aguirre of manipulating them.

Citing unnamed sources, De Lima said she was informed that Aguirre personally talked with her two former staff and brought them to the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI).

“Ganun nga daw, parang pinapaamin sa kanila na meron silang accounts na may certain deposit slips na may millions, at parang pinapaamin sa kanila na ako ang nagpabukas noon para doon daw ipadaan ‘yung mga nanggagaling sa drug lords,” she said.

(They said the two were asked to admit that they have accounts with certain deposit slips indicating millions of pesos. They were asked to admit that I was the one who asked them to open the accounts, which were used to receive money from drug lords.)

The senator said she doubts that such documents exist, as she urged the media to verify and be more careful in releasing such information.

“Jesus Christ! All I know is they will not succeed in having those two employees execute anything of that sort. You better ask NBI if it’s true. I don’t think it’s true, so I think that’s part of their psy-war (psychological war),” she said in a mix of English and Filipino.

Future charges

De Lima also appealed to Aguirre and NBI Director Dante Gierran not to allow themselves to be used against her, telling them that it is a crime to falsify evidence or testimony.

“Alam ko namang matitino kayong officials. Huwag na kayong maging party to any perjury or to subornation of perjury,” she said. (I know you are clean officials. Don’t allow yourself to be a party to any perjury or to subornation of perjury.)

If they don’t stop, De Lima said she would file cases against those who manufacture evidence against her.

Recognizing political realities, the senator said she may have to do it in the future as she has no recourse left at present.

“If they will still do it, then I will make them answer for it in some future time. It’s useless to be filing at this point. Where do I file it now, with DOJ?” – Rappler.com