Overseas Workers Welfare Administration (OWWA) Deputy Administrator Mocha Uson has no involvement in the alleged questionable expenses of the agency amounting to P1.2 million during the initial imposition of the enhanced community quarantine (ECQ) last year.

Thus, said OWWA Administrator Hans Leo Cacdac, referring a supposed discrepancy flagged by the Commission on Audit (COA) in connection with purchases made amid the lockdown between March and June 2020.

"With regard to news articles relating to the COA audit on P1.2 million worth of hygiene kits, food and other supplies for pandemic operations in FY (fiscal year) 2020, I humbly put forward the following," Cacdac said in a statement.

"The COA finding is not yet final. Deputy Administrator Faustino Sabarez III, who headed our ground operations at the height of enhanced community quarantine or ECQ in March-June 2020, is given a chance to explain his side and liquidate his cash advance," he said.

According to Cacdac, the P1.2 million intended for the purchase of operations-related supplies "was not sourced from the OWWA trust fund, but the General Appropriation Act".

"It is also within the context of the COA external audit of OWWA’s P8.9 billion expenditures for FY 2020, where OWWA received an unqualified opinion highest standard from the COA," he said. An unqualified opinion is the highest audit rating that COA can give to an agency.

"As we go through the COA process of explaining the operational expenditure of P1.2 million, I humbly seek your patience and understanding," the OWWA chief said, adding that "per COA unqualified opinion our people fulfilled their fiscal responsibilities 99.9 percent of the auditing process."

"Lastly, I wish to emphasize that Deputy Administrator Mocha Uson is not, in any way, involved in this isolated transaction," he further said.

Sabarez, a former Quezon City barangay official, is currently in hot water due to the unexplained expenses. At the time of the 2020 ECQ, which was the first in the ongoing coronavirus disease pandemic, he served as the coordinator for hotel accommodations and transportation of all overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) who were repatriated from March to June.

However, he was removed as coordinator after Cacdac received information that Sabarez was engaged to the hotel manager.

Uson is a popular blogger and a former sexy star. Like Sabarez, she is a staunch supporter of President Duterte.

OWWA is an attached agency of the Department of Labor (DOLE), which has also received an unqualified opinion based on COA's 2020 audit report.