Controversial celebrity Gretchen Barretto is in the news again.
She is being mentioned in show biz talk shows and news reports over an alleged incident said to have happened in early June in which her credit card was declined in a posh restaurant located in a Makati five-star hotel. As she presented her credit card to pay the bill for her dinner with Ruffa Gutierrez, Pops Fernandez and a non-showbiz friend named Josie, Gretchen was informed that the bank had declined the card.
According to the reports, Gretchen had answered back to the waiter, “That cannot be, we own the bank.” The cashier then tried several times to get the bank’s approval but failed. Ruffa instead paid the P4,000++ bill in cash. Reports also said that Gretchen’s long-time partner, businessman Tony Boy Cojuangco had rushed to the scene and tried to settle the problem. But, the reports added, the couple ended up quarreling over the incident.
As a result of the controversy, Gretchen told entertainment columnist Ricky Lo that she was seriously considering leaving the country for good.
In an exclusive interview with Philippine Entertainment Portal (PEP) on Thursday, Gretchen’s manager Boy Abunda confirmed that the incident did happen but clarified that the card was not declined because the transaction exceeded the credit limit or it was due to deactivation. Abunda said the whole brouhaha was a result of a hardware malfunction of the restaurant’s card reader. The machine’s magnetic stripe reader was not able to read Gretchen’s card, he said.
Boy also clarified that Gretchen was not leaving the country because of the incident. He clarified it was the couple’s plan even before to accompany their daughter Dominique in her studies abroad. Gretchen and Tony Boy’s relationship remained strong, Boy said.
Boy did not confirm or deny Gretchen’s “we own the bank” remarks to the waiter and the argument between Gretchen and Tony Boy. He also could not determine why Gretchen did not attend Ruffa’s recent birthday party or confirm that her no-show was a result of the incident. But, he said Gretchen and Ruffa were already on speaking terms.
He also said he was “not privy” to an alleged incident wherein Gretchen had fumed at PEP and YES! Magazine Editor-in-chief Jo-Ann Maglipon for breaking the story on the online portal.
Boy was also asked if it was indeed Ruffa’s personal assistant who leaked the incident to the press. Boy said it was “immaterial”. He revealed Gretchen is using the credit card again,
July 4th, 2008 at 3:09 pm
“That cannot be. . .we own the bank.”
It speaks volumes when your credit card is canceled by a bank that you own.
July 4th, 2008 at 1:53 pm
appreciates the honesty of boy abunda about the card issue - but it sounded like half-truth when he said it was the fault of the swipe machine. it’s hard to believe that a prestigious hotel would only have one card machine. and wouldn’t the hotel staff inform gretchen that a possible reason her card had been rejected was due to machine fault? - but this was never brought up. and besides they can always do manual approval of the credit card transaction if there’s really a fault in the machine or if the bank’s offline. in other words, there might be some truth to earlier report that the credit card was declined because it was cut off.
July 4th, 2008 at 12:49 pm
What machine malfunction boy abunda? Tell it to your dimwit patrons.
July 4th, 2008 at 11:05 am
Dati Cojuangco na pangalan ang idinidikit sa pangalan niya, tapos RCBC elevator ang pag-aari niya daw, bangko naman ngayon. Ano kaya susunod na aangkinin niya?
July 4th, 2008 at 10:47 am
Halata namang pagsisinungaling ang ginagawa ni crappy Abunda.
Machine error daw… che! ano sya “espesyal” hehe..
Ayos lang yan si TonyBoy, tutal pinalayas nya naman anak nya sa mansion nya..tama lang na sumakit ulo nya dyan kay La Greta..
fuckin’ chinese… pwe..