URBIZTONDO, Pangasinan – Police officials said yesterday a report that Sen. Leila de Lima’s former driver Ronnie Dayan had been arrested was “a hoax.”

Senior Supt. Ronald Lee, acting police director of Pangasinan, told The STAR that many have been asking him about Dayan since Saturday, but they themselves do not know his whereabouts.

Chief Inspector Joshua Maximo, Urbiztondo police chief, also denied reports on Dayan’s arrest.

Maximo said they learned about the news last Saturday when people kept asking police about it.

Another report said Dayan was in the custody of the police Criminal Investigation and Detection Group.

“If that was true, there should have been photos published in newspapers or were flashed on television,” he said.

He said somebody reportedly posted a story on Facebook about Dayan’s arrest.

Maximo said if another law enforcement group had nabbed Dayan, they would know about it.

Dayan’s legal wife in Barangay Galarin, Urbiztondo has maintained that she still has no communication with her husband.

The Volunteers Against Crime and Corruption has offered a P1-million reward for any information leading to Dayan’s arrest while a businessman pledged an additional P100,000.

Dayan is accused of collecting drug money at the New Bilibid Prison (NBP) for De Lima when she was still justice secretary.

De Lima admitted on television last week that Dayan was her lover for several years.

The House Committee on Justice cited Dayan for contempt and issued an arrest warrant for snubbing a congressional inquiry on the NBP drug trade.

He is reportedly being coddled by a politician in Northern Luzon, according to Justice Secretary Vitaliano Aguirre.

Lee said Aguirre’s statement is consistent with the intelligence report of Pangasinan police, adding that they are unrelenting in their manhunt for Dayan.

Reports about Dayan’s arrest also circulated yesterday on social media. A ranking military official supposedly confirmed the report. – With Cecille Suerte Felipe

The Philippine National Police (PNP), however, denied there was such an arrest.

An article on Facebook read that Dayan was “arrested by a joint police operatives” at dawn in Pangasinan and the report was said to be confirmed by Lee.

The article further stated that the bounty on Dayan’s head has doubled from P100,000 to P200,000 following pledge by a businessman. – With Cecille Suerte Felipe