Department of Migrant Workers (DMW) Hans Leo Cacdac vowed to pursue administrative and criminal charges against those involved in what he described as P1.4 anomalous land acquisition deal that cost the post of Arnell Ignacio as administrator of the Overseas Workers Welfare Administration (OWWA).

DMW Secretary Hans Leo Cacdac said the OWWA’s failure to obtain full possession of the property despite full payment of the purchase price is one the glaring anomalies found at the course of the probe.

Transparency issue is also the main problem since there were agreements and contracts that were not fully disclosed to the OWWA Board of Trustees which Cacdac heads.

“In due time, appropriate administrative and criminal cases will be filed against responsible OWWA officers who participated in the anomalous transactions,” said Cacdac.

Earlier, there were reports about the resignation of Ignacio as OWWA administrator but Cacdac disclosed that it was not a resignation but removal from office on the ground of loss of trust and confidence.

This, he said, stemmed from serious procedural and substantive lapses related to an anomalous Php1.4 billion land acquisition under questionable circumstances and without the required authority from the OWWA Board of Trustees.

The P1.4 billion land acquisition deal was buoyed by the goal of building a Halfway House” that would accommodate a huge number of returned OFWs similar to the mass repatriation and quarantine efforts during the pandemic. 

Part of what the OWWA bought inside the property were 52 condominium units. These condo units were part of the property evaluation of the Landbank of the Philippines, the reason why the selling price reached P1.4 billion.

But those condo units will eventually be demolished when the Halfway House is constructed—which means that the 52 condo units were bought by the government to be demolished.

One of the issues on transparency on the matter, according to Cacdac, was the existence of the lease agreement between the tenants of the condo units and the seller of the property.

That lease agreement will still be honored but the collection of the rentals of the tenants will not be done by OWWA personnel. 

Cacdac explained that there’s something wrong with the move of the OWWA to convert P2.6 billion emergency repatriation funds to capital outlay funds since it should have been approved by the OWWA Board of Trustees.

He also emphasized that both the signing of the Deed of Absolute Sale of Php1.4 billion real property and the Deed of Donation covering a certain portion of real property by the seller, and the Addendum to the same Deed of Absolute Sale of real property on reimbursement of paid taxes to the seller is required and should have not been disregarded.