Inisa-isa ni Department of Migrant Workers (DMW) Secretary Hans Leo Cacdac ang mga nagawa umanong paglabag ni former Overseas Workers Welfare Administration (OWWA) Administrator Arnell Ignacio sa tinaguriang "anomalous land deal."
Sa programang Headstart ni Karen Davila sa ANC noong May 27, 2025, binigyang-linaw ni Cacdac ang mga akusasyon laban kay Ignacio.
Una, ang pagkakabili ng PHP1.4 billion na lupang gagamitin sa pagpapatayo ng halfway houses para sa overseas Filipino workers (OFWs).
Ano ang katotohanan tungkol dito?
Saad ni Cacdac: "This issue stems from a PHP1.4-billion land acquisition made by OWWA through the former administrator on his own last September 2024.
"There was a deed of absolute sale that was signed without going through the OWWA Board of Trustees, which is a sectoral body within the OWWA.
"It's the highest policy-making and checks-and-balances authority mandated by law to approve or to authorize the administrator to enter into crucial transactions such as this particular real property acquisition.
"The OWWA board got to pass upon the matter after the deed of absolute sale was signed, and that was in November. And a series of other meetings, it's three or four meetings, that followed.
"So there was no board approval for the sale, but more importantly, grave omissions, red flags everywhere surrounding this transaction.
"First, there was no OWWA board approval for the project itself.
"The project is an intended halfway house and the project, according to the OWWA charter, should go through the OWWA board, which it did not.
"Three, it could have been thoroughly discussed that the feasibility of having a halfway house — the basis of which was the global pandemic — should be seriously studied prior to approval.
"Because government simply cannot fund or host or supervise a facility or a halfway house or a hotel with the 1.5 million who returned from the pandemic last three years.
"So, that's better off for the private sector where there is more professional and decent accommodation, facilities, and services.
"The other thing is the fund sourcing."
Read: Arnell Ignacio appointed new OWWA administrator
CACDAC ON OWWA FUNDING
Kasunod na tinalakay ni Cacdac ang pondong ginamit umano sa pagbili ng lupa.
Paglilinaw niya: "The OWWA administrator handles two funds.
"One is the trust fund owned by the OFWs.
"Two is the fund coming from the General Appropriations Act of Congress, the kaban ng bayan.
"Either way, the OWWA administrator's fiduciary responsibility is of the highest level.
"And one big way for the OWWA administrator to be accountable is to submit the budget to the OWWA board.
"Such a budget was submitted with an emergency repatriation fund.
"What the former administration did was to convert this PHP2.6 billion of the emergency repatriation fund into capital outlay for land acquisition purposes.
"That, too, should have gone through the board because, in effect, the budget was modified, substantively modified.
"And according to the OWWA charter, any type of budget or supplemental budget to the DBM [Department of Budget and Management], before going to the DBM, should go to the OWWA board.
"And then here's another thing. When the deed of absolute sale was signed, the deed of absolute sale said that the property around 7,000 or so square-meters is free from liens and encumbrances.
"But lo and behold, we discovered there were tenants or lessees on the property.
"So that, too, should have gone through the board. In fact, not just that, there was a grave, grave misrepresentation in the absolute deed of sale when it said there's nobody there in the property and that OWWA can take immediate possession, which did not happen immediately."
Pagpapatuloy ni Cacdac: "So, there's so many red flags in this deal.
"There was a donation, part of the land was donated by the seller, and that, too, should have gone through the board."
ON TAXES ISSUE
Sunod na tinalakay ni Cacdac ang isyu tungkol sa taxes.
Pahayag ng DMW secretary: "There were local transfer taxes, which according to the deed of absolute sale was to be paid by the seller.
"OWWA should not pay for the local transfer tax and rightfully so because Section 56 of the OWWA Acts says, 'OWWA is exempt from paying any form of tax.'
"And the deed of absolute sale did affirm this.
"When they signed the deed of absolute sale, the seller raises his hand and says, 'Saka, nagkamali. Dapat OWWA ang magbayad ng local transfer tax.'
"And what OWWA did was to agree to this, sign an addendum to the deed of absolute sale that it is now the OWWA who should pay local transfer taxes and immediately release PHP36 million to the seller's attorney-in-fact.
"Now, speaking of the seller's attorney-in-fact, when I asked for the rentals on the lessees, on the tenants, on the leases, in our board meeting early this year, I was surprised to find out that it is still this same attorney-in-fact who still collects the rent despite the fact that the deed of absolute sale and the titles have already been transferred to the Republic of the Philippines.
"So, I am wondering what is the presence of this attorney-in-fact given PHP36 million in local tax refunds and the rental collection responsibilities for? What is he there for?
"So, there are again, red flags all over the place. And last na lang, there should be more, but I'm just summarizing this.
"Covering the deed of absolute sale were fifty, were seven land titles and fifty-two condominium titles, part of the Landbank valuation cited by the former administrator.
"Sabi niya [Ignacio], above board dahil dumaan sa Landbank valuation. Around 97 million or so was the Landbank valuation for the 52 condominium units covering 52 condominium titles.
"But guess what? Those 52 condominium units are not there anymore. They've been demolished. Despite the fact that titles there, too, have been transferred to the Republic of the Philippines.
"So, that would have drastically reduced the purchase price. And so there are really overwhelming red flags in this transaction.
"And so we are preparing the appropriate cases to be filed against the appropriate officials in the appropriate government agency."
Read: Arnell Ignacio resigns from OWWA; returns to showbiz to earn money for sick father
IS OWWA ADMINISTRATOR ALLOWED TO CONVERT FUND TO A CAPITAL OUTLAY?
Kasunod na tinanong ni Karen Davila ang tungkol sa pondong para sana sa pagpapalikas ng OFWs kapag may emergency o kalamidad sa ibang bansa.
Ito raw ang perang ginamit sa pagbili ng lupa.
Pinapayagan ba ng batas na gawin ito ni Ignacio?
Sagot ni Cacdac, "No, an OWWA chief is not allowed to do that, as I said.
"The OWWA board is there as checks-and-balances mechanism, so this is a function that he had arrogated upon himself."
Paano ba dapat makalikom ng pondo para sa mga ganitong proyekto?
Sabi ni Cacdac: "The next step would be to go to the DBM to seek permission to do this.
"It's ultimately the national government who should do this.
"But at the first level, checks and balances safeguard, it's the board of trustees, and never is this a decision by the administrator purely alone."
Sa kanyang press conference noong May 23, 2025, iginiit ni Ignacio na dumaan sa tamang proseso ang paglabas ng pondo na ipinambili ng lupa.
Pero ayon kay Cacdac, hindi ito naipresenta sa board ng OWWA—na masasabing paglabag na sa batas.
Naaprubahan ba ito ni DBM Secretary Amenah Pangandaman dahil mahirap kumilos noong panahon ng pandemic?
Tugon ni Cacdac: "Well, that is something that has been alleged by the former administrator and says there have been meetings in the Senate and the DBM and such, and that is something that we're also looking into the record right now.
"But rest assured, that all of this will come to the fore when we file the appropriate case in the appropriate government agency."
Kung sakali, mapapawalang-sala ba si Ignacio kapag sinabi ni Pangandaman na inaprubahan nito ang pondo?
Saad ni Cacdac: "No, because this still should have gone through the board.
"That is, that is a prerequisite, going through this process of conversion, because the checks and balances, as I said, is through the board."
Cash na umabot sa PHP1.4 billion ang natanggap ng nagbenta ng lupa, pero hindi naman daw ganun kaganda ang lupang nabili.
Kuwestiyonable daw ito, ayon kay Cacdac.
At kadalasan, kapag may nagbebenta ng lupa ay may nakakatanggap ng komisyon.
Sino sa palagay ni Cacdac ang nakatanggap nito?
Sagot niya: "Well, based on the narrative that was given to us, there was board meetings after the sale, there was a broker initially, but they did away with the broker. The seller is a realty corporation.
"So it is that, and the seller, meaning the landowner, as well. Then, the seller and the landowner, both realty corporations.
"So they did away with the preliminary broker and dealt directly with this realty corporation.
"That's as far as I know."
Sa ngayon ay iniimbestigahan pa raw nila ang mga sangkot sa bentahan.
Read: Arnell Ignacio speaks out after his firing as OWWA Administrator
IGNACIO BOUGHT THE LAND WITHOUT TRANSPARENCY?
Dahil parang bumili ng sariling lupa si Ignacio, maaari din daw kasuhan ang nagbenta ng lupa.
Ayon kay Cacdac, "Yes. And the seller, being a real estate company, knows the ropes, knows how to, should I say, uh, facilitate a deal such as this.
"So yes, uh, the short answer is yes, we will include the seller as a necessary party to the case."
Bukod kay Ignacio, kasama rin daw sa kanilang kakasuhan ang deputy administrator ng OWWA na si Emma Sinclair.
Sila ba ang nakapirma sa bentahan?
Paliwanag ni Cacdac: "Well, yung administrator ang nakapirma sa deed of absolute sale. But the deputy administrator heads the finance side.
"There's another deputy administrator who headed what Admin Arnell called The Land Acquisition Committee. Gumawa siya ng sarili niyang committee, e. Isa pa yan, e.
"He issued an internal document where he created a committee. So those three are involved.
"But of course, hindi ko muna ilalahad pa yung others who may be possibly involved, including the charges.
"There will be an appropriate announcement for this once we file the specific charges."
Ayon pa kay Cacdac, hindi na bago kay Ignacio ang pagbili ng real property ng ahensiya dahil noong siya pa ang adiminstrator ng OWWA, kung saan si Ignacio ang kanyang deputy, nakasama ito sa meetings na may ganoong tema.
Saad niya: "So he was, well, very familiar of how the OWWA works.
"And he even sat with me during board meetings during my time, where among others, proposals for real estate acquisitions were made during my time.
"During my time, there was one real estate acquisition proposal, which we shot down.
"But that only shows that indeed, the real estate acquisition proposal should go before the OWWA Board of Trustees.
"And we also had our fair share of OWWA board meetings, during my time as secretary already.
"I presided over at least three meetings of the OWWA Board of Trustees, and never was this matter on lot acquisition ever calendared as an agenda item, not to mention the numerous activities, most of them in the public eye, yung salubong ng mga workers from other country, war-torn countries, and other DMW activities.
"The numerous activities where the former administrator and I were literally stood side by side, and never was this mentioned."
Sa huli, tanong ni Karen, "Paano nagawa yan?"
Sagot ni Cacdac: "Paano nagawa yan is because it was secretly done.
"As I said, there were many opportunities and safeguards thrown along the way.
"Yung sinasabi na conversion could very well have been taken in the April meeting that we had where we discussed the OWWA budget.
"We discussed the OWWA budget April of last year. And that could have been a genuine opportunity to present this matter.
"Now, as to whether those or the officials were indeed in cahoots in terms of concealing this matter, that is being looked into, and that will pretty much cover the extent of the culpability of the other officials, you know, at the OWWA."