Senator Miriam Defensor-Santiago castigated erstwhile Deputy Director General Carlos Gadapan of the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) during a Senate inquiry, saying the President has the prerogative to fire presidential appointees in whom he has lost confidence.
Nobody will quarrel with Maid Miriam about the presidential prerogative.
But it’s only fair that the person who is fired unceremoniously be told why he was given the boot.
Gadapan, who some in PDEA say is a man of integrity, should have been told why the President lost trust in him.
Crime suspects are informed about the charges filed against them. Why not Gadapan?
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P-Noy continues to have trust and confidence in PDEA Director General Jose Gutierrez with whom Gadapan has had a tiff.
It’s also Mr. Aquino’s prerogative that he still retains his trust in Gutierrez whose wife, Estrella, is allegedly a heavy gambler.
Ms. Gutierrez has incurred debts estimated to amount to P100 million.
How will the PDEA chief, who is reportedly P-Noy’s relative, be able to pay his wife’s creditors with his salary?
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The problem with the President is that except for those close to him, he readily believes unsavory reports about presidential appointees without first determining their veracity.
Gadapan was fired upon the recommendation of Executive Secretary Jojo Ochoa, who must be aware of Gutierrez’s reported blood relations to the President.
Ochoa apparently sided with Gutierrez in his quarrel with his deputy, not on the issue of integrity but on blood ties.
That says a lot about Ochoa as Little President.
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There’s a story circulating within PDEA that a person posing as Ochoa called up Gutierrez and asked him to give P2.5 million to his (Ochoa’s) foundation.
Without checking whether he was talking to the real Ochoa, Gutierrez reportedly delivered the money via Western Union. It turned out the man who talked with the PDEA chief was a fake.
If the story is true, how can you now trust an antinarcotics official—the PDEA chief, no less—who can be that gullible?
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A report this column made about a drug suspect bribing PDEA agents P8 million has been glossed over by the antinarcotics agency, as well as Malacañang.
The money was deposited by a Berna Padilla Catacutan at the BDO branch at the Resorts World hotel and casino complex on July 18 on the same day the Chinese suspect was arrested.
The money was withdrawn gradually in Pampanga province.
The irregular transaction was brought to my attention because the suspect was not released even after he reportedly paid off his captors.
Has Gutierrez or Malacañang conducted an investigation into the report?
If Gutierrez didn’t know about it, how can the President continue to have confidence in a guy who either tolerates his subordinates’ shenanigans or doesn’t know what they’re doing?
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I agree with Education Secretary Armin Luistro that teachers should teach the martial law period in our history to students without any bias.
The bad—as well as the good—face of martial law should be presented side by side to the students.
Let the students judge for themselves whether Ferdinand Marcos, who imposed martial law, was justified in doing so.