Loy Madrigal (CDN PHOTO/JUNJIE MENDOZA)
After being asked by the governor to resign for having a liaison with a married secretary, Capitol Chief Security Officer Loy Anthony Madrigal was ordered to return his service vehicles and firearms.
He also has to explain why the Mitsubishi Strada issued to him was driven by a non-employee when it figured in a road accident over the weekend.
“The question there is why did he (Madrigal) allow somebody who is not an employee of the Provincial Capitol drive the vehicle?” said Cebu Gov. Hilario Davide III in a press conference yesterday.
Davide said 45-year-old Alberto Naraja, who was reportedly at the wheel, had applied as a job order employee under the Civil Security Unit (CSU) headed by Madrigal but has yet to sign a contract.
“For all intents and purposes is not an employee of the provincial government and therefore unathorized to drive that vehicle,” said the governor.
Davide said he would let the Committee on Discipline and Investigation (CODI),which convenes today, decide on Madrigal’s fate.
“Everybody’s entitled to due process especially that he holds a high position here as chief of security. That is my order,” said the governor.
CALL TO RESIGN
On Monday, Madrigal met with the governor, who asked his security officer to resign after photos of Madrigal and his secretary were posted on a critic’s Facebook account, calling attention to an office romance many in the Capitol already knew about.
The secretary, who is married, will resign, Madrigal told the governor on Monday.
Instead of resigning himself, Madrigal asked for a 20-day leave of absence, which was granted.
However, his actual status remains a question, after an exasperated Governor Davide told reporters that Madrigal was “suspended” upon learning that the man who was severely injured in Sunday’s accident, 50-year-old Mirambel of Bogo City, later died in the Vicente Sotto Memorial Medical Center on Monday afternoon.
Mirambel’s wife, Marites, 40, underwent leg surgery, and is still confined. The couple was heading home on a motorcycle, when the oncoming black Mitsubishi Strada pickup of Madrigal swerved to its lane and hit the motorbike.
Governor Davide said he will let Provincial Administrator Mark Tolentino, who heads the CODI decide which would take effect first – Madrigal’s 20-day leave of absence or the preventive suspension.
“Mahimo man tingali nga i-supersede ang leave and serve the preventive suspension. But as I’ve said, it’s now on the hands of the provincial administrator. I will not anymore deal with that subject,” he told reporters.
Madrigal said he was on his way to the San Remigio police station aboard the black pickup truck Sunday night when the vehicle collided with a motorcycle in Bogo City last Sunday night.
He said his driver was Naraja.
TURNOVER
As of yesterday, the black pickup with plate number SJC 600 was not back in the Capitol parking area.
Provincial General Services Office (PGSO) Assistant Head Bernard Calderon said they will send a memorandum to Madrigal informing him to return “all province-owned properties” issued under his name.
Based on their records, Calderon said two other vehicles have to be returned – a white Kia K2700 double cab and a motorcycle – aside from the pickup.
Madrigal was also issued firearms for the use of his men in the CSU but no details were given as Calderon said an inventory was still being made.
“We already sent the memo to the Provincial Administrator’s Office and we expect them to send it to Mr. Madrigal. He should return it as soon as possible,” he explained.
In Madrigal’s absence, Governor Davide said his deputy Roberto “Bobby” Legaspi, will take charge of the CSU.
DAVIDE KNOWS SECRETARY
The secretary, Iris Plasquita Camello, a casual employee, has not been seen in the Capitol since Thursday last week.
Davide said he knew her because “her father used to drive for my father in the Supreme Court for many years.”
“ That’s why nahulog na pud nga close ba,” he added.
The governor said he had expected the woman to “have the decency to talk to me.”
“The girl will resign as per Mr. Madrigal. I expected her to come yesterday but she did not come. According to Mr. Madrigal, she was not feeling well,” he said.
Madrigal early on insisted he only had a “working relationship” with Camello, describing her as a “single parent”, but other Capitol personnel say their liaison was openly known in the office.
The woman’s husband called a press conference on Sunday, accusing Madrigal of breaking up his marriage, and giving Iris gifts of lingeries, bags, shoes and fish from his taskforce operations against illegal fishing operators.
The female casual employee, who joined the Capitol last year, left their family home last January, taking their two young daughters with her.
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