WHAT is the basic mission of the Overseas Workers Welfare Administration?
It is to develop and implement welfare programs and services that respond to the needs of its member-OFWs and their families. It is endowed with powers to administer the OWWA trust fund.
The agency’s core values, on the other hand, are (1) professionalism, or maintaining a good public image through the development of its human resources; (2) accountability, or managing its funds transparently and judiciously; (3) managing its fund in a transparent and judicious manner, and properly utilizing its resources; (4) integrity, or upholding good governance; and (5) responsiveness with commitment, by ensuring services oriented towards the total satisfaction of its external and internal clients.
These core values appear to have been completely thrown out of the window by certain people in the key agency of the Department of Migrant Workers.
Hence, Secretary Hans Leo Cacdac recently dismissed OWWA Administrator Arnel Ignacio from his post, pointing out that the latter did not resign but was fired “due to loss of trust and confidence.”
At the center of the controversy is a 1.5-hectare property beside the Ninoy Aquino International Airport, a location deemed unsuitable for development due to its proximity to the airport’s runway and existing tenants.
The whistleblowers claimed records at the Bureau of Internal Revenue and Registry of Deeds were manipulated as a CGT transaction, reducing the tax liability by ₱84 million.
At a recent news forum, new OWWA Administrator Patricia Yvonne Caunan pledged to conduct a full audit, seek legal opinion from the Department of Justice, and coordinate with the Commission on Audit as part of their investigation.
We await the result of this investigation, and hope the probers dig deeper as this appears to be nothing less than a clear case of plunder.
