House Speaker Pantaleon Alvarez. INQUIRER FILE PHOTO
Speaker Pantaleon Alvarez on Friday defended the House order compelling Sen. Leila de Lima to explain why she discouraged her driver and ex-lover, Ronnie Dayan, from attending the hearings linking her to the illegal drug trade.
Contrary to Senate President Aquilino Pimentel III鈥檚 reminder that the House should exercise 鈥渋nterparliamentary courtesy,鈥� Alvarez said it was De Lima who 鈥渋nterfered鈥� in the affairs of the House.
Alvarez said he agreed with House committee on justice chair Rep. Reynaldo Umali鈥檚 move to issue the show-cause order that threatened to cite her in contempt if she refused to comply.
鈥淲ell, she has to appear in the House of Representatives and show cause why she should not be cited for contempt,鈥� he said.
Dayan was arrested on the basis of a contempt citation, after he failed to heed a show-cause order directing him to explain his absence from the House鈥檚 hearings despite being subpoenaed.
During the House justice subcommittee鈥檚 hearing on Thursday, Dayan鈥檚 daughter showed a Viber message purportedly from De Lima advising Dayan to hide.
鈥淭hat act of the senator is tantamount to interfering in the proceedings conducted in the House of Representatives and that itself is really contemptuous,鈥� Alvarez said.
Justice Secretary Vitaliano Aguirre II said the government may charge the senator with 鈥渙bstruction of justice鈥� as well as concubinage for cohabiting with Dayan, a married man who has admitted to having sexual relations with De Lima for seven years.
鈥淭here is that special law that says that we would file if this will fall under the obstruction of justice provision. Let me study it and if warranted, we will file necessary action,鈥� he said.
He advised the House committee to cite De Lima in contempt first before the Department of Justice moves to charge her for drug offenses.
He said De Lima publicly admitted the affair 鈥渁nd the Supreme Court is unerring in punishing this kind of immorality with disbarment.鈥�
Alvarez also played down the 鈥渋nconsistencies鈥� observed by congressmen in the testimony of Dayan, who admitted receiving money from confessed drug lord Kerwin Espinosa but contradicted the statements of New Bilibid Prison inmates that he collected drug money from them.
Alvarez said Dayan 鈥渃onfirmed a lot of things鈥� with regard to the allegations hurled at the senator, who was accused by President Duterte of involvement in the illegal drug trade after she launched an inquiry into abuses in the government鈥檚 bloody antinarcotics campaign.
鈥淥ne thing for sure: that he delivered money to then Justice Secretary De Lima,鈥� Alvarez said.
Several senators on Friday backed Sen. Panfilo Lacson鈥檚 plan to invite Dayan to reconcile his testimony with that of Espinosa鈥檚. Lacson leads the Senate committee on public order and dangerous drugs, which has launched an investigation into the killing of Espinosa鈥檚 father, Albuera, Leyte, Mayor Rolando Espinosa Sr. 鈥擶ITH REPORTS FROM TARRA QUISMUNDO AND GIL CABACUNGAN