A Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) personnel may be removed from service for allegedly deceiving his bride-to-be and leaving her to marry another woman whom he had known for only a few months.
Jessabel Sagun appeared on the “Raffy Tulfo in Action” program to air her complaints against Benny Lagata, an apprentice seaman at the PCG Veterinary Center, for allegedly secretly marrying another woman he had met only last January.
Sagun and Lagata who had known each other since 2018, were supposed to get married on May 9. They already had a prenup shoot in December 2025. However, two days before the wedding, Lagata could no longer be contacted.
Lagata appealed to move the wedding date, particularly to next year, claiming that he had not been granted permission to take a “leave” from work.
Sagun later learned that Lagata had married another woman in a civil ceremony last March after allegedly believing that he had gotten her pregnant.
A month before that, Lagata had given Sagun money for the wedding preparations.
Sagun said she met Lagata on a dating app in 2018. By 2019, they had started living together after Lagata offered to let her stay at his house because of the distance from her workplace.
They later had a child in 2022.
Sagun went to the program to air her complaint against her partner and appeal for his removal from service. She said it was Lagata’s mother who urged her to appear on the program.
According to Sagun, she supported Lagata while he was still aspiring to join the PCG.
The program invited Rear Admiral Oliver Tanseco, inspector general of the Coast Guard Internal Affairs Service, to seek assistance regarding Sagun’s situation.
Tanseco said that Lagata’s alleged actions constituted a “grave offense,” and that he could be “dismissed from service” as a result.
“That is a grave offense and the penalty is dismissal from the Coast Guard Service,” Tanseco said in the program.
“Alam niyo po, ‘pag may halong pangloloko, pandaraya, at hindi po pagtupad doon sa pangakong pagpapakasal sa isang babae po, lalo na po itong may anak, meron pong kasamang emotional and psychological abuse. Ito po ay kakatanggal niya sa serbisyo,” he added.
“‘Yun lang po, kaya aksyunan natin ‘yan, ma’am. We will act on that,” Tanseco further said.
Lagata, meanwhile, said he never intended to marry the other woman whom he had only recently met, claiming that he only did so because he believed he had gotten her pregnant.
