Scrapped OWWA Program Was a Slush Fund: Labor Chief

MANILA, 15 August 2003 — Labor Secretary Patricia Sto. Tomas said she canceled the General Financial Assistance Program (GFAP) of the Overseas Workers Welfare Administration (OWWA) because it did not directly benefit Overseas Filipino Workers.

“The GFAP was a 50-million-peso slush fund for the OWWA administrator which the administrator could disburse at his own will,” Sto. Tomas said at a press conference yesterday.

Estrella Dizon Anonuevo, chairwoman of the Philippine Council of Reintegration (Philcore), argued that the GFAP included burial assistance, medical assistance and assistance in man-made or natural calamities to OFWs and their families of up to 15,000 pesos.

“This might not be much. But for a former OFW who is sick or disabled, this is a lot!” Anonuevo earlier said, adding that “no valid reasons could be offered by the staff (for the suspension) except that OWWA is coming out with a better package. But since the “better package” still remains to be seen, it is illogical for the board to approve the suspension of the services.”

Together with the Philippine Migrants Rights Watch (PMRW) and the Economic Center for Overseas Filipinos, Anonuevo assailed the suspensions, which also covered the family assistance loans, the educational loan, the re-entry loan for displaced workers, and the direct lending for individual entrepreneurs.

But Sto. Tomas and OWWA Administrator Virgilio Angelo claimed none of OWWA’s programs had been suspended except for the GFAP. She said that the NGOs should present at least one OWWA member who was not able to avail of benefits first.

Sto. Tomas and Angelo were more concerned about anomalies in the disbursement of the OWWA-Medicare fund and had asked the Philippine National Police to help investigate.

Acting on a tip, OWWA governing board members looked into two sample cases involving claims of up to 306,000 pesos which they both found to be phony.

Meanwhile, Senate Majority Leader Loren Legarda asked the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) to also investigate these spurious claims. She surmised that the controversial Medicare payments could have been facilitated in connivance with people inside OWWA.