MANILA, 21 April — A group has asked Labor Secretary Patricia Sto. Tomas to form an independent committee to investigate all aspects of the Overseas Workers Welfare Administration (OWWA) Fund in view of a Commission on Audit (COA) report on anomalies in the fund’s accounting.

“We requested that the Secretary create some sort of inter-agency fact finding commission to investigate the COA findings on the OWWA fund,” Noel Josue, Kaibigan ng OFW (Overseas Filipino Workers) secretary-general told ArabNews.

He said the committee would then make recommendations based on their investigation as well as on the COA report, a copy of which they obtained from unknown government sources.

“Those issues have to be resolved,” Josue explained.

He also said that the primary target of the investigation would be present OWWA Administrator Wilhelm Soriano.

According to Josue, Soriano as a presidential appointee does not need to pass through the Commission on Appointments (CA) so his designation as OWW chief is guaranteed.

“But the NGOs (non-government organizations) are raising the question about why he was ‘recycled’ when he had a background of anomaly that was as yet unresolved,” Josue said, adding “these issues have to be resolved first.”   

He said that if Soriano is cleared, his appointment becomes legitimate in the eyes of the NGOs dealing with OFWs.

Some of the other issues which would hopefully be resolved, Josue said, is the question on how much the OWWA fund is already, what it has been spent on and what is remaining.

“The NGOs all think that OWWA has been the milking cow of whoever is in power, so that being head of OWWA is one of the juiciest government positions available,” Josue said.

He explained that all OFW contribute about P500 million annually and this has been accumulated to approximately P2.2 billion.

He said this amount should be intact because the OWWA fund is a welfare fund or a trust fund whose principal should remain the same.            

“The interest is all that should be spent on OFW services and administrative costs,” Josue said.