Bato wants Dayan in next Blue Ribbon Committee drug war probe

Senator Ronald “Bato” dela Rosa on Monday sought to subpoena certain personalities involved in the drug war, including Ronnie Dayan, the former driver of former senator Leila de Lima.

According to self-confessed drug lord Kerwin Espinosa, Dayan allegedly received a total of P8 million from him to support De Lima’s senatorial bid in 2016.

Espinosa recanted all his allegations against De Lima in 2022, saying he was “coerced, pressured, intimidated and seriously threatened” by the police to implicate the former senator.

Espinosa’s earlier testimonies were catalyzed by the previous administration prosecutors to jail De Lima, a staunch critic of Duterte’s war on drugs.

Last August, the former lawmaker was acquitted by the Muntinlupa Regional Trial Court Branch 205 from her final and remaining drug case.

During a recent House Quad Comm hearing, Espinosa claimed that Dela Rosa “coerced” him to link De Lima to the illegal drug trade in the New Bilibid Prison during her stint as Justice secretary.

Dela Rosa served as the head of the Philippine National Police in 2016, and led the anti-narcotics campaign of the Duterte administration — the controversial “Oplan Tokhang.”

Based on the government data, at least 7,000 people were killed under Duterte’s drug war, however, both local and international human rights groups disagreed with the figures, stressing that the actual number of victims could be as high as 30,000.