Navy officer Gadian denies she engaged in lavish spending

MANILA, Philippines - Who’s living an extravagant lifestyle? Not me, definitely. This was the claim of Lieutenant Senior Grade Nancy Gadian as she denied accusations hurled against her by the camp of retired Lt. Gen. Eugenio Cedo. Gadian denied the grave misconduct charges filed against her, which she said were based on an “adverse report" claiming that she used portions of the Balikatan 2007 fund to satisfy her “extravagant living and lavish spending." “Bakit ako? Magnanakaw ba ako? [Why me? Am I a thief?] Even their own witnesses sided with me and cleared my name," Gadian told GMANews.TV in an interview on Wednesday, May 13, a day before she was restrained by the Philippine Navy from airing grievances in connection with the alleged misuse of funds for the Balikatan exercises. According to Gadian, the 2007 adverse report was prepared by Col. Antonio Dacanay who used to be the finance officer of the Philippine Army’s Western Mindanao Command formerly under Cedo. Manny Nobleza, counsel to Gadian, told GMANews.TV on Wednesday that the grave misconduct charges were contained in the December 3, 2008 administrative case filed against the Navy officer before the Philippine Navy’s Evaluation and Separation Board (ESB). The complaint was signed by “a certain Major Agdetta," according to Nobleza. He said that in the case, Gadian was accused of committing three misconducts: (1) false declaration and misuse of funds (2) extravagant expenditure and (3) refusal to appear before the investigating committee under Cedo’s Western Mindanao command. Cleared by witnesses Nobleza said the three witnesses of the prosecution had cleared Gadian of false declaration and misuse of fund charges that involved P2.3 million. “The funds were properly released, receipted and cleared. We have documents to back up our claim. And even the witnesses of the prosecution sided with her (Gadian)," said Nobleza. Nobleza did not identify the witnesses, but he said that one of them was from the Inspector General’s Office of the Armed Forces of the Philippines, the other was under the auditing office of the AFP and the third “is a good colonel who said that Nancy was cleared." On the extravagant expenditure charge, Nobleza said this involved P14,000 that was allegedly used by Gadian to pay for her stay at the Crown Plaza Hotel in Ortigas Center in Pasig City with two US marines who went with her to Manila for a Balikatan briefing at Camp Aguinaldo in Quezon City. Gadian denied that she displayed extravagance when she stayed at the hotel. “Di ako ang namili ng hotel, kundi ‘yong dalawang US marines [I was not the one who chose the hotel, it was the two US marines] because of security reasons and its proximity to Camp Aguinaldo," she said. Gadian said she was only given P10, 000, for her two-day board and lodging at the hotel. “So nag-abono pa ako. Yan ba ang definition ng extravagant [So I had to pay for the extra expenses. Is that the definition of an extravagant person]?" She also denied that she refused to appear before the investigating panel under Cedo. “Nag-disobey daw ako sa order niya [Cedo], that I refused to be investigated. That is wrong. In fact, ako pa ang nagtanong kung kailan ako i-summon," said Gadian, adding that she filed a manifestation before the panel on May 12, 2007. [Cedo said I disobeyed his order, that I refused to be investigated. That is wrong. In fact, I was the one who asked when I would be summoned.] Motion denied Nobledo said he filed a motion to dismiss after the prosecution “rested its case" against Gadian. However, the ESB denied the motion through a “verbal decision," according to Nobleza. The Navy is now looking for Gadian, according to its spokesman Lt. Col. Edgard Arevalo. Citing records from the Navy’s Receiving Station dated May 2, Arevalo said Gadian went on leave from March 9 to April 21. She was supposed to report for duty on April 22 but she did not show up. Arevalo said Gadian was placed on Absence Without Leave (AWOL) status. “She was considered a deserter and order for her apprehension was issued to bring her back to military custody for investigation," Arevalo said. - ARCS, GMANews.TV