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| Letter sent to Malacanang discloses alleged anomalous land deal entered into by Ignacio |
Migrant
Workers Secretary Hans Cacdac has confirmed reports first published by The SUN
that former Overseas Workers Welfare Administration administrator Arnell Ignacio
was booted out of his post due to an anomalous P1.4 billion land acquisition
deal.
Cacdac
made the disclosure in an interview with GMA News Online, after reports Ignacio
had said in a social media post that he resigned due to work-related stress.
“Former
administrator Ignacio did not resign from office. He was removed and replaced
on the count of loss of trust and confidence due to an anomalous P1.4 billion
land acquisition deal that did not go through the OWWA Board of Trustees on at
least six counts,” Cacdac said in the interview.
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| PINDUTIN PARA SA DETALYE |
A letter
obtained by The SUN from a DMW source said a group of concerned OWWA employees
had first reported about the alleged anomalous transaction to Malacanang, DMW,
Office of the Ombudsman and the Bureau of Internal Revenue sometime in November
last year.
This was
followed up by another letter on March 31 this year in which Ignacio and OWWA
deputy administrator Emma Sinclair were accused of “plunder” in the amount of
Php100 million and spending Php1.4 billion in a worthless property investment.
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| Basahin ang detalye! |
The
letter further detailed that after the initial complaint was made, Ignacio
called the purported seller of the land named Mr Medina to go to his office and
refund the Php36 million issued to him by way of a supplemental contract
earlier.
All of
the transactions , from the purchase of the land to the “refund” of Php36
million to Medina were said to have been carried out without prior approval of
the OWWA Board.
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| Cacdac says Ignacio did not inform the OWWA board at least 6x about the land deal |
“He did not... inform the Board on at least six counts, on six matters, surrounding the P1.4 billion land acquisition deal,” Cacdac told GMA News.
Malacanang announced the replacement of Ignacio by DMW Undersecretary Patricia Yvonne Caunan who immediately took her oath of office before Cacdac on Friday.
No
mention was made initially on why Ignacio was sacked, prompting speculations it
was because overseas Filipino workers voted heavily in the last elections in
favor of the senatorial candidates handpicked by detained former President
Rodrigo Duterte, instead of the 12 endorsed by the administration.
There
has been no official word from Ignacio on the issue.
Ignacio was appointed by President Marcos as OWWA administrator in September 2022. Previously, Duterte named him OWWA deputy administrator but he resigned for undisclosed reason.
