Boss' wife at center of raging PDEA row

From: inquirer.net

Is it a sin to tip off your boss about his wife’s indiscretion?

 

Carlos Gadapan raised this question after Malacañang ordered his removal as deputy director general of the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) last week, without, according to him, any justifiable reason.

 

Gadapan, a retired police superintendent, surmised that his unceremonious exit was triggered by the information he gave to PDEA Director General Jose Gutierrez Jr. regarding the alleged gambling habits of Gutierrez’s wife.

 

A letter he received on September 14 from Malacañang informed him that President Benigno Aquino had lost confidence in him.

 

f there was one thing he did to cause his dismissal from office, he said it could have been his decision to tell Gutierrez that his wife had been losing millions of pesos in a casino in Sta. Mesa, Manila.

 

Gutierrez claimed his wife did not gamble, did not even know how to play mahjong or card games, was not very adept at using computers so she could not engage in online gambling.

 

He said that as far as he knows his wife went to casinos only when she was with members of Philippine National Police Ladies Club. He said he himself did not gamble.

 

Gutierrez also said he did not ask Malacañang to remove Gadapan. He said he was out of the country when the Palace sent its letter to Gadapan.

He denied allegations that the PDEA was protecting drug lords. He also refused to speculate on Gadapan’s motives.

 

Gadapan said his informants told him that the PDEA chief’s wife had become addicted to slot machines and was gambling way beyond her means.

Fearing that addiction to gambling of his superior’s wife may compromise the integrity of PDEA and its operatives, Gadapan said he decided to relay the information to Gutierrez in June.

 

“He (Gutierrez) was in disbelief. I was just concerned about the agency and his wife, who was openly identifying herself as the wife of the PDEA director general,” Gadapan said.

 

Gadapan said the PDEA chief’s wife owed at least P600,000 from PDEA officials alone. He said the woman once tried to borrow P300,000 from him, but he told her that he could not lend her such a large amount..