THE sister of whistleblower Lt. Sg. Nancy Gadian asked the Supreme Court Tuesday to issue an order to protect the military officer after she disclosed the alleged misuse of the P46 million allocation for the RP-U.S. Balikatan exercises.
Nedina Gadian-Diamante cited serious threats to her sister’s life, liberty and security in filing the writ of amparo petition against Armed Forces Chief Lt. Gen. Victor Ibrado, Navy Flag Officer in Command Vice Admiral Ferdinand Golez, Western Mindanao Command (Westmincom) Col. Joel Ibanez, Westmincom financial officer Lt. Col. Antonio Dacanay and former Westmincom commander Lt. Gen. (ret.). Eugenio Cedo.
Gadian, who was deputy of the Civil-Military Operations of the RP-US Balikatan exercise held in Zamboanga from 2002 to 2007, has gone into hiding, fearing her life was in danger after she expressed her wish to expose the corruption inside the AFP.
Gadian did not directly handle the Balikatan funds but was responsible for its allocation, according to her sister.
The petition said Cedo requested the Inspector General in May 2007 to investigate Gadian for her alleged misuse of P12,500.
Diamante, who is based in Iloilo, said her sister had accounted for the funds but was still placed on “floating status” and later transferred to the Navy.
According to the petition, the Philippine Navy Efficiency and Separation Board pursued the case against Gadian in December 2008 on the recommendation of then Inspector General Lt. Gen. Ferdinand Bocobo, a classmate of Cedo, even after of the Office of the Internal Audit of the AFP cleared the whistleblower.
The administrative case against Gadian sister was submitted for resolution in April. By then Gadian had gone on official leave from the military. Before her leave was scheduled to end on April 21, she submitted her resignation effective May 1.
On May 14, a day after Gadian was interviewed by a television network about the Balikatan funds, the Navy issued an apprehension order against her.
Two days later, Diamante said her sister sent her a short message service (SMS) that a “shoot-to-kill” order had been issued against her.
She said she has not heard from Gadian since and that she was warned by someone whom she did not identify that her house was under surveillance by the military.
The AFP has denied the shoot-to-kill order againt Gadian.
Dimante said the threats to her sister “are meant to cow, intimidate, silence, and prevent her (Gaidan) from informing the public about the alleged corruption in the Balikatan exercises.”