Husband: Madrigal wrecked our marriage

CEBU, Philippines - The controversy involving Capitol security chief Loy Anthony Madrigal just got more interesting.

Yesterday, the husband of his secretary came into the open and tagged Madrigal as the reason behind his and his wife’s breakup. The development seemed to contradict reports that the secretary is a single parent.

Madrigal and his secretary figured in controversy after pictures of them looking sweet in public went viral on social media.

In a press conference yesterday, Redero “Red” Ramonito Camello, 27, disclosed that he and his wife married last year after eight years of living together. However, his wife reportedly started going home very late since she started working for Madrigal. There were also circumstances when Madrigal and some personnel from Capitol’s Civil Security Unit would reportedly fetch her at dawn and even on weekends.

“Ang himuon niya (Madrigal) nga alibi nga parte og trabaho. Wa ko kabalo nga ang akong asawa na diay ang iyang gi-trabaho. Akong giadto si Madrigal sa iyang office. Akong giingnan nga, ‘sir, grabe na man kaayo ka-busy inyong trabaho nga bisan weekend, di man kapahuway akong asawa. Bisan kadlawon, gabii, naa man sa opisina’ (He would use work as an alibi. I did not know that he was making moves on my wife. I went to see him at his office and expressed my concern about the work schedule – that my wife could no longer rest even at night or on weekends),” Camello said.

He said he also noticed that his wife was getting valuable gifts like a mobile phone, a watch, a refrigerator, and even P2,000 cash reportedly as weekly allowance. All of these reportedly came from Madrigal.

Camello said his suspicions about what was happening eventually became the cause of conflict with his wife.

“Miingon siya nga sige kuno ko’g confront… nga seloso kuno ko kaayo (She would tell me that I would always confront her, that I was very jealous),” he said.

The conflict escalated and their biggest fight reportedly happened in January 28 after which his wife decided to leave him, bringing with her their two daughters. He never knew his wife’s whereabouts from then on, Camello said.

Tessie Jean, Camello’s sister, also said that it was on February 4 this year when they tried to get the children to celebrate a birthday but the wife reportedly intentionally brought the children to Leyte. They still reportedly caught up with them at the port and the wife was with Madrigal’s security personnel but the effort to retrieve the children was to no avail.

“Giapas sa ako brother, but unfortunately, we were not able to get the kids kay naa man ang mga securities ni Madrigal, which is not good. Why is he using those securities(sic) coming from the government to have it(sic) used in(sic) personal matters?” Tessie Jean said.

Despite his disclosure, Camello said he has no plans of taking legal action just yet and he only surfaced because he only wants his children back.

In a phone interview, Madrigal denied Camello’s claims, saying that he never asked his secretary to work at dawn, but said there were times when he had to bring her to work on documents following an operation.

He also denied giving her valuable things.

“Pero dihay inspection sa sand and gravel to nga mauli namo siya og gabie na. Ibutang pa man gani namo siya as apprehending officer kay siya man ang mag-prepare sa mga dokumento (There was a time during an inspection on a sand and gravel operation when we brought her home already at night. We even identified her as apprehending officer because she was the one who prepared the documents),” Madrigal said.

Medellin Mayor Ricardo Ramirez, who posted the “sweet” photos of Madrigal with his secretary on social media accompanied Camello during the press conference yesterday. He called on Madrigal to respect the decision of Governor Hilario Davide to ask him to resign.

Madrigal is set to meet the governor today to explain his side. He is also planning to file a libel complaint against Ramirez./JMO (FREEMAN)