A haircut, a fried chicken-spaghetti meal, and quality time with his loved ones.
Those are the “perks” that New Bilibid Prison (NBP) drug trade witness Ronnie Dayan have received since he was taken into custody by the House of Representatives (HoR) in Quezon City.
Justice Committee Chairman, Oriental Mindoro 2nd district Rep. Reynaldo Umali said Dayan is now being held at the second floor of the HoR Legislative Security Building, which is the same building as the Sergeant at Arms (SAA).
In fact, SAA Roland Detabali holds office right across the makeshift detention room of Dayan, who was caught by police operatives in La Union before noon Tuesday after months in hiding.
“Kasama niya actually ‘yung family niya, ‘yung wife and daughter niya. May guwardiya sa loob ng kwarto tsaka sa labas din ng building,” said Detabali Wednesday.
“He has access to television,” he added. In fact, a photo released Wednesday by the SAA showed Dayan having a haircut while watching the Senate Justice Committee inquiry on TV.
“Na-check up siya ng doctor natin sa Congress kasi may bruises pa siya. Nagpapasok din kami ng barber para gupitan siya para sa hearing bukas,” the SAA said.
Detabali noted during Dayan’s presentation to House media Tuesday night that Dayan had been feeling sick in the days prior to his arrest.
Dayan, the former driver and bodyguard of Senator Leila de Lima, reportedly had fried chicken and spaghetti for dinner.
Meanwhile, Umali identified the two Integrated Bar of the Philippines (IBP) lawyers who will assist Dayan in the execution of his affidavit. These are lawyers Manny Buenaventura and Abet Reyes.
Dayan is scheduled to entertain questions from congressmen tomorrow, Thursday, in the continuation of the House Justice Committee’s investigation on the NBP drug issue.
LOVER-TURNED ACCUSER
De Lima, meanwhile, accused yesterday the Duterte administration of turning around his former driver-lover to link her to the illegal multi-billion-peso drug trade.
After his arrest by police operatives in San Juan, La Union last Tuesday, Dayan claimed that he had collected in five occasions since 2014 sums of money from alleged drug lord, Kerwin Espinosa, and had given these funds to her.
In a statement released at the start of a Senate inquiry on Espinosa’s alleged illegal drug business, De Lima maintained that “It appears Ronnie Dayan has been successfully turned into another one of my accusers by this Administration.”
“Nevertheless, I welcome this as an opportunity to clear my name as soon as all these fiction stories of the underworld are weaved into a complete but grotesque tapestry and finally filed before a court of law where I can properly defend myself, hopefully this time without the fanfare and the drama of my persecution before the media,’’ she said. (ELLSON QUISMORIO & MARIO CASAYURAN)