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| Ignacio in his final visit to HK as OWWA Administrator |
A building with 52 condominium units was torn down on the P1.4 billion land that the sacked administrator of the Overseas Workers Welfare Administration, Arnell Ignacio, had bought without going through proper legal channels, according to the Department of Migrant Workers.
DMW Secretary Hans Cacdac cited this in several interviews,
including one with The SUN, as among so-called “red flags” or warning signs that
attended the purchase of the land by Ignacio from a real estate developer.
The condominiums could have easily served as temporary
shelters for overseas Filipino workers, if that was Ignacio’s real intention in
buying the lot adjacent to the Ninoy Aquino International Airport in September
last year.
Secretary Cacdac said the land title specifies the building
housing the condominiums as part of the purchase, and he had no idea why Ignacio
had them razed.
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| PINDUTIN PARA SA DETALYE |
But an even bigger anomaly according to Cacdac, was
that Ignacio signed the Deed of Absolute sale in September 2024 without prior
approval from the Board of Trustees, in violation of Section 22 of the OWWA
Charter.
In addition, Ignacio alleged diverted OWWA’s P2.6
billion repatriation fund to cover the land purchase, again without approval from
the OWWA Board, which Cacdac chairs as DMW secretary.
“What the former administrator did was to convert
this P2.6 billion of emergency repatriation fund into capital outlay for land acquisition,”
Cacdac said in an interview with ANC. “This, too, should have gone to the Board.”
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| Pindutin para sa detalye |
Ignacio appeared before the media earlier, and
firmly denied any irregularities in the P1.4 billion land deal that led
Malacanang to remove him from his post.
“But let me tell you,
to the OFWs I have been serving, hindi ko
kayo pinagtaksilan. Ginawa ko lang ito para sa inyong pagmamahal at wala po
akong kinita dito,” Ignacio said at the news conference where he spoke at
length but did not take any question. (But let me tell you, the OFWs I have
been serving, I did not betray you. I just did this because of my love for you
but I did not make money from it).
He also made a vague reference about reporting to
the OWWA Board about the land deal but stopped short of saying he had obtained its
approval. He merely asserted that the negotiations over the land purchase had been
going on for some time, with the Board’s full knowledge.
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| The OWWA Board with Cacdac as chair should have approved the land deal (File) |
Cacdac is adamant the Board had no prior knowledge about the land purchase. He said Ignacio only informed the Board after the transaction was discovered, including amendments in the deed that allowed the seller to be “refunded” for the Php36 million that he paid as local transfer tax for the sale.
After a letter from “concerned OWWA employees”
questioning the land deal reached the OWWA Board, Ignacio was told to get back
the money from the seller.
“Sabi namin,
anomalya yan, dapat i-produce yung ibalik yung pera na yan at agad naman
binalik,” said Cacdac. (We said, that’s anomalous, the money should
be returned—and it was, but only after we called his attention to it.)
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| Basahin ang detalye! |
Another red flag, said Cacdac, was the rent for the existing
commercial spaces on the land. Even after the title had passed on to the
national government in November last year, an “attorney in fact” for the seller
had allegedly been collecting the rent.
When questioned about it, Ignacio could not provide
an answer, said Cacdac.
Eventually, the seller paid Php1.4 million to OWWA in
rent from September 2024 to March this year, from two commercial lessees, KFC
and Smart Communications.
The DMW chief who is on holdover capacity following
his courtesy resignation on May 21 on orders of Malacanang, said criminal
charges against Ignacio are being readied, while an administrative case had
already been filed against him earlier.
