23-05-2025
Arnell Ignacio: Land deal not anomalous, presented to OWWA board
Former Overseas Workers Welfare Association (OWWA) administrator Arnel Ignacio on Friday denied that there was anything anomalous in the P1.4-billion land deal the agency entered into during his watch.
According to a 24 Oras report by Mariz Umali on Friday, Ignacio also denied that he made money from the transaction.
Department of Migrant Workers Secretary Hans Cacdac earlier this week said Ignacio was replaced as OWWA administrator because of the questioned land purchase.
'Ito po ay dinala namin sa board bilang report ng OWWA, at binusisi ng ilang technical working group na binuo din ng ating chairman Secretary Hans Cacdac na kaibigan ko… Walang nakitang iniliban na hakbang,' he said.
(This was brought to the board as an OWWA report, and it was thoroughly inspected by several technical working groups that were made by our chairman Secretary Hans Cacdac, who is my friend… They didn't see any steps we've skipped.)
'Lahat ng mga requirements sinunod at sinabing maayos ang aming pagkakasunod sa RA 10752… kKaya ako gulat na gulat na tinawag itong anomalous deal,' he added.
(All the requirements were followed and were deemed to have followed RA 10752… which is why I was very surprised that this was called an anomalous deal.)
Ignacio was pertaining to a 6,499-square meter plot of land near the Ninoy Aquino Terminal 1, which OWWA procured to become a halfway house for migrant workers.
'Napakabigat. Pagkatapos, napakaraming alegasyon sa akin. Saan nanggaling? Sa isang papel na walang nakapirma? Na andami daming sinabi na kinita ko? Pati nga yung numero, di na nga magkasundo kung magkano. Wala po akong kinita dito,' Ignacio continued.
(It feels really heavy. There are also so many allegations made against me. Where did this come from? From a paper with no signature? That said I had a lot to gain from this? Even with the numbers, they couldn't agree on how much it was. I didn't earn anything from this.)
He said the Land Bank of the Philippines was the institution that came up with the amount that OWWA paid for the land.
'As our government financial institution, it's the LandBank who assessed the value, and it is exactly the amount that OWWA paid. At sana man lang, binigyan ako ng pagkakataong makausap. Nagulat na nga lang po ako na isang araw, pinatawag ako na ako ay papalitan… 'Yun po ang nangyari dito, di ko po ito itinago. Ito pong ganitong kagandang transaksyon, bakit namin itatago ito?' Ignacio said.
(As our government financial institution, it's the LandBank that assessed the value, and it is exactly the amount that OWWA paid. I had hoped I at least would have been given a chance to explain. I was shocked that I was suddenly called one day to be replaced… That's what happened here, and I will not hide it. This was such a good transaction, so why would we hide it?)
Ignacio said he hoped OWWA would still use the procured land for its intended beneficiaries. –Jiselle Anne C. Casucian/NB, GMA Integrated News
