Dayan enjoying normal life in safe house

LINGAYEN, Pangasinan, Philippines – After spending months in hiding in a hut in La Union, Ronnie Dayan, the alleged bagman of Sen. Leila de Lima in the illegal drug trade, is again living a normal life – enjoying videoke and playing the guitar and eating everything but string beans.

Dayan, former driver-bodyguard and lover of De Lima when she was justice secretary, is in a safe house in an undisclosed place in Pangasinan, according to Senior Supt. Ronald Lee, police director of the province.

“There is a videoke machine and a guitar there, so he sings,” Lee said. “He sings, but when I’m around, he does not want me to hear his singing.”

Dayan is under the protective custody of the Pangasinan police after he testified in the congressional hearing last Thursday.

Congressmen took turns asking him questions about his romantic relationship with De Lima. Dayan admitted he and De Lima were in a relationship for seven years.

Lee said Dayan is recovering from arthritis, which was the reason he stopped running in the chase with police that led to his arrest last Tuesday in La Union.

Lee said string beans and other foods that cause arthritis are not given to Dayan at this time. “Basta walang sitaw (Just no string beans),” Lee said.

A photo released by the Pangasinan Police Office also showed Dayan holding a guitar with a Duterte sticker on it. The guitar is owned by one of Dayan’s police escorts, Lee said.

Lee said aside from the police, his wife Neneng, children and close relatives are keeping Dayan company. Dayan walks around the safe house as a form of exercise.

Lee said Dayan’s mother has not visited him, but she is free to do so.