Daily Tribune‘We are still in the process of digging deeper and finding out more details… looking through documents, talking to personnel inside, and trying to understand how and why this happened, and whether there was any abuse — formal or informal — surrounding this transaction.’
Palace Press Officer Claire Castro
Photo courtesy of PCO
A second Overseas Workers Welfare Administration (OWWA) official has been dismissed over the allegedly anomalous P1.4-billion land deal involving the agency, Malacañang confirmed on Wednesday.
Palace Press Officer Undersecretary Claire Castro said OWWA Deputy Administrator Emma Sinclair was fired, following the sacking of Administrator Arnell Ignacio last week.
“In addition to [Ignacio], another official is involved — Deputy Administrator Emma Sinclair. Both of them were dismissed, they were not asked to resign,” Castro said in a statement.
She said President Ferdinand Marcos Jr.’s decision to fire them sends a clear message to all public officials: serve with integrity or face the consequences.
The controversial land deal involving the acquisition of a property near NAIA Terminal 1 for a “halfway house” for returning overseas Filipino workers, had come under intense scrutiny. On 31 March, several OWWA employees filed a complaint alleging that Ignacio and Sinclair manipulated the processes to reduce the tax obligations in connection with the project.
The Department of Migrant Workers (DMW), which oversees OWWA, said its investigation into the transaction is ongoing.
“We are still in the process of digging deeper and finding out more details… looking through documents, talking to personnel inside, and trying to understand how and why this happened, and whether there was any abuse — formal or informal — surrounding this transaction,” said DMW Secretary Hans Cacdac.
As of this writing, Cacdac has yet to issue a statement on Sinclair’s dismissal.
For his part, Ignacio earlier said he would address the controversy “at the right time.”
