It is an uphill climb for Sen. De Lima
Finally, after a long frustrating wait, the missing driver of Senator Leila de Lima, whom she finally admitted as her paramour, was arrested in La Union. Eng . . . Eng . . . Eng . . . Now the fun begins! Perhaps De Lima's biggest slip is her public admission that Dayan is her paramour, or this is a calculated move on her part. After all, she is a very wily character.
But we already know the truth and the testimonies of alleged drug lord Kerwin Espinosa, and now, Ronnie Dayan, will certainly boost the case filed by Department of Justice Secretary Vitaliano Aguirre III, including other cases filed against De Lima by Dante Jimenez of the Volunteers Against Crime and Corruption. It just makes me wonder who will be collecting the P1 million bounty that Jimenez put up.
Already, to De Lima's advantage, she has denied that she gave her paramour Dayan a house in Urbiztondo. While this may be difficult to prove, there are many other ways to skin a cat–the fact alone that a lowly driver would be able to acquire a house like what we saw on TV and the news raised many eyebrows. The enigmatic question remains, whether Ronnie Dayan will cooperate with the authorities and provide the most vital link to pin down Senator De Lima's giving him the authority to do some "transactions" inside the New Bilibid Prisons. These are transactions that witnesses during the Senate and Congressional investigative hearings have already testified to in public.
Call it a double whammy against Senator De Lima because Senator Manny Pacquiao was able to talk to allege Drug Lord Kerwin Espinosa, who is now in the custody of the Philippine National Police, Camp Crame in Quezon City. Kerwin admitted that he gave P8 million to De Lima from his illegal drug trade in Leyte. The million-Peso question now is who is that other senator who was supposed to be tagged by Kerwin Espinosa together with Senator De Lima?
On this note, the plot really thickens. As far as De Lima is concerned, we would have more respect for her if she resigned now and show that there is still some decency left in her. She has dragged down the name of the Filipina woman in her quest to save her neck, including the hallowed name of the Philippine Senate, where at this time, she can no longer be effective as a legislator. When one lies to the public and they're supposed to be men and women of honor and probity, and their lies are caught, the decent thing to do is to resign.
However, I do have a lingering question bothering me. How come such kind of information is freely given to Senator Manny Pacquiao? What does he have to do with this case? Is he making PR for Kerwin? Or is he just trying to be goody-two-shoes? I would rather have all information come from the National Bureau of Investigation or the DOJ. Meddling of public officials in matters of public interest should never be allowed. However, at this point, I do not know if Manny Pacquiao's talk with Kerwin Espinosa is part of the Senate investigation on illegal drugs. If this is so, then you can call it official business.
With both Ronnie Dayan and Kerwin Espinosa in custody, we would like to get certain assurances that their lives would be safe. I'm scared that they might end up dead just like the elder Espinosa whose life was snuffed out in the middle of the night. After all, dead men tell no tales! While it can make a very good storyline for a movie, it doesn't serve the ends of justice in a country still hungry for justice!
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Yesterday's front-page news in The Freeman was about the arrest of some 24 Taiwanese nationals by the National Bureau of Investigation in their rented house along Tupas St., Buena Hills, Barangay Guadalupe in Cebu City. Armed with a search warrant, NBI agents together with Taiwanese police entered the five-story house owned by Avelina Vidovic, which was rented by the Taiwanese.
The Supervising Agent Allan Tubi, officer-in-charge for NBI-7 Cyber Crime Cluster led the arrest and was accompanied by Cebu City Councilor David Tumulak, deputy mayor for peace and order. Councilor Tumulak said, "The modus of the arrested Taiwanese was to call retired officials in Taiwan and tell them they still have pending cases. They also offer to make these cases disappear in exchange for money."
I'm quite taken aback by this news. After all, Taiwan as a nation has a very low corruption index and this arrest shows that corruption is still thriving in Taiwan. Now, if these arrested Taiwanese can make the cases of corrupt officials disappear as pointed out by this extortion, then these people must have "friends" in high places. Whether this was an Interpol operation, I wish Dave Tumulak would tell the public. It would also be interesting to note what the Taiwanese government has to say about this?
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