OVERSEAS Workers Welfare Administration (OWWA) administrator Arnell Ignacio had been removed from office due to an alleged anomalous P1.4-billion land acquisition deal which OWWA entered into under his term.
He was replaced by Department of Migrant Workers (DMW) Undersecretary Patricia Yvonne Caunan, who said that the land acquisition deal is now under investigation.
Erlier, DMW Secretary Hans Cacdac said that Ignacio did not resign from post but instead was removed from office “on the count of loss of trust and confidence,” adding that the land acquisition deal, which was entered into by the OWWA under Ignacio, was not authorized by the OWWA Board of Trustees.
An audit, proper coordination with the Department of Justice for their legal opinion on the matter, as well as with the Commission on Audit was already ordered by Caunan.
Caunan said the deal, which was signed in September 2024, was supposedly for the establishment of a half-way house or a dormitory-type accommodation for overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) to be located near the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) Terminal 1.
The funds used for the land acquisition was part of the agency’s budget and not the OWWA trust fund, which came from the pool of funds coming from contributions of member-OFWs, seafarers and their employers, said Caunan, adding that the power to purchase a real property needs the approval of the board of trustees and its chairman is the DMW Secretary.
