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BY ADRIAN STEWART CO
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MANILA – Ronnie Dayan’s admission of a seven-year affair with Sen. Leila de Lima bolsters the disbarment charge against the latter, Justice secretary Vitaliano Aguirre said.
De Lima and her ex-driver/bodyguard may also be liable for concubinage under the Revised Penal Code, said Aguirre, who attended Thursday’s House inquiry into the drug trade in the New Bilibid Prison where Dayan testified.
“Malaki ang epekto nito sa disbarment cases sa kanya (de Lima),” Aguirre said. “Regardless if Dayan was separated, as long as the marriage was not annulled or [he was not] legally separated [from his spouse], such relationship is not allowed under the law.”
De Lima was an election lawyer prior to entering government service.
“The Supreme Court is consistent in imposing the ultimate penalty of disbarment in this kind of case,” Aguirre added. “Wala ng duda ngayon na nakipagrelasyon siya (de Lima) sa may asawa.”
But de Lima and Dayan may be hauled to court for concubinage only if Dayan’s wife files the case against them, Aguirre clarified.
‘I SLAPPED HER’
At the House inquiry, Dayan admitted having an affair with de Lima from 2007 to 2014. He claimed they broke up after he found out she was having another affair with bodyguard Warren Cristobal.
He and de Lima’s affair started when he was just “two to three months” into his job as driver in her law office, Dayan said. “Alam po ni Ma’am na married ako.”
“Noong nabalitaan ko na iyong isang hagad niya na ang pangalan ay Warren Cristobal ang bagong boyfriend niya, parang nasampal ko ng bahagya si Ma’am. Sabi ko, ‘Uubusin mo yata kaming mga security (aide) mo,’” he said.
Dayan also disclosed that de Lima would sometimes give him money as much as P30,000.
“Tungkol naman po sa bahay sa Pangasinan na regalo daw ni Ma’am, ang totoo ay noong 2007, humingi ako kay Ma’am ng P120,000 pambili noong lupa,” he said. “Sa pagtayo po ng bahay, nasa P800,000 ang ipon ko at P2,000,000 galing kay Ma’am.”
De Lima admitted in a television news channel interview last week that she had a relationship with Dayan for “a few years,” but she claimed he was already separated from his wife at the time./PN
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