House summons Leila driver, ex-DOJ official

LINGAYEN, Pangasinan, Philippines – Police authorities here have served subpoenas on two persons linked to Sen. Leila de Lima after the House of Representatives’ committee on justice summoned them to attend the public hearing on the alleged drug trafficking operations in the New Bilibid Prison (NBP).

Senior Supt. Ronald Oliver Lee, Pangasinan police officer-in-charge, told reporters yesterday the summons were received by relatives of former Department of Justice (DOJ) undersecretary Francisco Baraan III and Ronnie Dayan, former driver of De Lima.

Lee said the House committee on justice sought police assistance to serve the summons, both of which were received last Oct. 1.

Speaker Pantaleon Alvarez and Rep. Reynaldo Umali, chairman of the committee on justice, signed the subpoenas.

The subpoena for Baraan was received by his brother, former Pangasinan provincial administrator Rafael Baraan, while that for Dayan was received by his sister, Elmita Torreta.

Lee said that the subpoena for Dayan was served by the police in Barangay Galarin, Urbiztondo town.

Lee said they have not seen Dayan in the area for the past weeks.

Both Baraan and Dayan were ordered to attend the inquiry at the House today and on Oct. 7 and were also directed to submit their sworn statement regarding the matter on or before Oct. 3.

The names of Baraan and Dayan were included in an alleged drug matrix recently made public by President Duterte.

The House will resume today its hearing on the alleged proliferation of drugs inside the NBP in Muntinlupa City during the time of former justice secretary De Lima.

The justice committee headed by Umali is also expected to hear the 10 or so witnesses to be presented by Justice Secretary Vitaliano Aguirre II who will reportedly testify that De Lima directly received millions in bribes from them.

Umali told reporters during the plenary debates on the DOJ budget that they have lined up their witnesses who will testify on their first-hand knowledge about De Lima’s links to drug lords inside the national penitentiary.

The President and Aguirre have stated that De Lima’s senatorial campaign last May was bankrolled by convicts inside the prison facility, and whose link is convicted kidnapper Jaybee Sebastian who raised the funds for her, with the help of other drug lords.

De Lima has repeatedly denied this, while Sebastian – who was hurt in a recent riot inside the maximum security compound – didn’t confirm nor deny, except to say he was willing to testify but only with regard to anomalies of the NBP’s catering business.

Sebastian’s lawyer said his client wanted to talk to Duterte, but the latter flatly rejected this.

Speaker Alvarez earlier promised that the House would perform its mandate of lawmaking and do away with public perception that it has always been a wrecking tool of every administration against its perceived enemies.

Alvarez advised Umali to come up with a draft bill.

“That’s why I told our panel chairman that after this (probe), we should not be recommending the prosecution of anybody. Let’s try to come up with a proposed bill that will address all these problems inside the NBP,” Alvarez said.

De Lima said she is ready to forgive those whom she said were forced to testify against her.

In a press conference following a forum at the Commission on Human Rights (CHR) yesterday, the senator said the witnesses who tagged her have various reasons for testifying, including being intimidated or blackmailed.

“Those who were forced and do not have a choice, even now I can already forgive them because I know that it is difficult for them to stand by what is right,” she said in Filipino.

De Lima maintained that the testimonies made and are forthcoming at the House inquiry are all lies, stressing that they will not present anyone with stories that will not malign her.

New witnesses

Three more NBP inmates have come forward to attest to the alleged links of De Lima to illegal drug trade in the penitentiary.

Convicts German Agojo, Joel Capones and Jerry Pepino submitted to the Department of Justice (DOJ) sworn statements detailing their respective roles in the supposed “fund raising” of drug money for De Lima’s senatorial bid last May.

In their affidavits obtained by The STAR, all three inmates corroborated the earlier testimonies of fellow inmates led by bank robbery and kidnap gang leader Herbert Colanggo that pointed to Sebastian as the alleged fund raiser of De Lima.

Agojo, one of the so-called “Bilibid 19” earlier transferred to the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) and adviser of Batang City Jail gang, said that just like other gang leaders he was also tapped by Sebastian to raise millions by selling shabu in January 2014.

“Our group needed to raise P20 million to supposedly support the senatorial candidacy of Sec. Leila de Lima in the 2016 election. Any objection would have corresponding penalty,” read his two-page affidavit.

Agojo recalled that since he was applying for parole, he begged not to be involved in actual sale of shabu and instead just serve as coordinator and collector of funds – to which Sebastian had agreed.

A month after or in February 2014, the drug convict said Sebastian asked for funds “because Sec. de Lima was already asking for it.”

According to Agojo, Sebastian deposited millions in a bank account as advance collections that he would later pay for.

“He gave me a deposit slip dated Feb. 21, 2014 showing that he already deposited P9 million to an account under the name Hanna Mae Magallanes Dayan who was supposedly the daughter of Sec. de Lima’s driver, Ronnie Dayan,” he claimed.

On March 14, 2014, he said Sebastian again gave him deposit slip for P6 million in the same account.

Agojo said Sebastian deposited P1,350,000 on Sept. 5, 2014, but to another bank account this time – Marrel Obuyes, reportedly a staff of De Lima in the DOJ.

Agojo submitted to the DOJ copies of the deposit slips amounting to P16,350,000 to prove such claim.

But when Sebastian asked for the remaining P3,650,000 in their group’s quota, Agojo told him they would not be able to meet the target due to poor sales.

Agojo, along with Colanggo, Capones and 16 other high-profile inmates, were then transferred to the NBI in December 2014. Sebastian was left in the NBP.

Capones backed Agojo’s testimony, saying he was also tapped by Sebastian to sell drugs for De Lima’s campaign kitty.

“He explained to me that should Sec. de Lima lose in the senatorial election, she will certainly become DILG secretary because Mar Roxas would become president,” recalled Capones, commander of Sigue Sigue Sputnik gang, in Filipino.

He alleged that Sebastian also warned him that refusal to cooperate would have dire consequences, adding that he had no choice because the latter was known to be able to send uncooperative inmates to far penal colonies or have them killed.

He admitted that their gang sold drugs using their contacts outside the NBP via cell phones.

Capones recalled that in February 2014, he met Jad de Vera, whom Sebastian introduced as a nephew of De Lima who would collect the money from him every Wednesday and Saturday.

“There was an instance when Jaybee called me out to his cell to prove that his collection was really for Sec. de Lima. I went there and Sec. de Lima arrived a few minutes later and they talked privately,” he alleged in his three-page affidavit.

Just like Agojo, Capones said Sebastian also gave him four bank deposit slips under the name of Bogs Obuyes, former staff of De Lima in the DOJ, where a total of P18,880,000 from their collections went. 

He also submitted the deposit slips dated March 7, 2014 (P4,800,000), March 21, 2014 (P7,200,000), April 4, 2014 (P2,600,000) and April 18, 2014 (P4,800,000) to the DOJ to support his claims.

Capones said he decided in October 2014 to quit the illegal drug trade after learning that he qualified for parole. Two months after, he was transferred to the NBI.

Pepino, for his part, was chief commander of the group Batman and head commander of the league of commanders in the medium security compound of NBP.

In his one-page affidavit, he said he was also tapped by Sebastian in the illegal drug trade in May last year.

Pepino said he referred Sebastian to two commanders who, from June to September last year, were able to raise drug funds of over P5 million per month that were deposited to a bank account.  

Agojo, Capones and Pepino are set to testify before the House of Representatives in the continuation today of its inquiry on proliferation of illegal drug trade in NBP.

Meanwhile, in a supplemental affidavit, NBI deputy director Rafael Ragos claimed that he delivered money to De Lima more than twice.

Ragos earlier testified that there were two instances that he delivered P5 million to Dayan in De Lima’s house in Parañaque City when he was officer-in-charge of the Bureau of Corrections (BuCor). 

Aguirre said there are nine more witnesses expected to testify during the congressional inquiry on Thursday, including De Lima’s former aide, Jonelle Sanchez, a police officer and another inmate.

Aguirre insisted yesterday that De Lima and her driver Dayan really have a sex video.

He bared that Sanchez has submitted an affidavit saying he and other aides of De Lima saw two videos showing the former DOJ chief and Dayan in sexual acts.

Siquijor Rep. Ramon Rocamora claimed yesterday that Aguirre has put the House of Representatives in a bad light by making its members wrangle over his plan to show the alleged sex video of De Lima. - With Delon Porcalla, Jess Diaz, Edu Punay, Janvic Mateo