Villar subpoenas execs who snubbed OWWA fund hearing - Malaya 08.02.2006
SENATE President Manuel Villar yesterday signed subpoenas for Cabinet officials who snubbed Monday’s hearing on the government’s repatriation efforts in war-torn Lebanon.
Sen. Jinggoy Ejercito-Estrada, chairman of the Senate panel that sought the subpoenas, said these were addressed to Marianito Roque, administrator of the Overseas Workers Welfare Administration (OWWA); Esteban Conejos Jr., foreign affairs undersecretary for migrant workers affairs; Secretaries Arturo Brion of labor and Rolando Andaya Jr. of budget; Rosalinda Baldoz, chief of the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration (POEA) and
Undersecretary Ricardo Blancaflor of the Office of the Executive Secretary.
A subpoena is issued to compel resource persons to attend Senate hearings.
The officials were invited by the Senate committee on labor, employment and human resources headed by Estrada Monday but did not appear.
Executive Secretary Eduardo Ermita, short of invoking Executive Order 464, told Estrada in a letter that the Cabinet officials were busy attending to the ongoing evacuation efforts in Lebanon.
Ermita also said the Senate probe did not refer to a specific law or bill that is being amended or crafted by Congress.
Estrada, chairman of the Senate committee on labor, employment and human resources, said the subpoenas will be hand-delivered to the officials "within the day."
He said the hearing resumes Monday.
"I’m hoping that they would respect (the subpoena) of the Senate as an institution. Kung hindi nila ako nirerespeto, respetuhin nila ang Senado," Estrada said.
Estrada on Monday said the absence of the officials only bolstered allegations that money from the OWWA was used for the election victory of President Arroyo in 2004.
"We are not grandstanding. We would like to know where the funds of OWWA were spent. Dahil there were rumors that the OWWA funds have been depleted already so we want to find out from them if it is really true," he said.
Sen. Franklin Drilon said contrary to what Ermita said, there is need for legislation to clarify how the OWWA funds should be administered and disbursed.
Drilon said the Migrant Workers Act and the OWWA law should be reconciled to clarify whether evacuation costs should be shouldered by the OWWA or by the national budget.
He said under the Migrant Workers Act, the ambassador to a country where Filipino workers are facing repatriation has control of the funds for repatriation.
FIGHT OVER FUND CONTROL
Drilon said it seems that the controversy between the OWWA, which maintains it has control of the funds, and Ambassador to Lebanon Al Francis Bichara, who has complained of insufficient funds for repatriation operations, is a fight over control of the funds.
"They are fighting over the golden rule: whoever has the gold rules. So if OWWA has the gold, OWWA rules," he said.
During the Monday hearing, the senators confirmed reports that OWWA has not sent a single centavo for the Lebanon operations.
Bichara, in a phone patch, told the hearing that only $19,000 was remitted but it was wired directly to the personal bank account of an OWWA officer based in Lebanon.
He said his office was running out of funds and racing against time in evacuating trapped Filipinos in Lebanon as borders are being closed down due to the growing conflict.
Roque said OWWA did not send the money to the personal account Mario Antonio, its Beirut-based finance and welfare officer.
He said the $20,000 fund was deposited in Antonio’s program account, and was used for medicines, flashlights, transportation and other similar assistance to OFWs.
He said they Bichara was probably just worried in case of an influx of OFWs to the embassy if war escalates.
Conejos said if there was any delay in the delivery of the additional $150,000 fund that the DFA sent to Beirut, it was because the cash was hand-carried after the Lebanon central bank imposed restrictions in the release of dollars.
He said Bichara was aware that the cash would be hand-carried.
He added that the additional $150,000 was sent by the DFA on Bichara’s request. He said it was on top of the $50,000 that the DFA initially sent despite the availability of $121,369.89 in the embassy’s accounts.
Conejos also said as of Tuesday night, 1,746 OFWs had been flown out of Lebanon.
Brion said they expect the number to increase after the International Organization for Migration facilitated three chartered flights to Manila that would carry 450 OFWs each.
Former President Fidel Ramos said investigations on the alleged OWWA fund mess should be conducted after government has ensured that all OFWs in Lebanon are safe.
"We should help put out the fire first before we investigate…because baka kumalat," Ramos said in a press conference in his Makati office.
He said a crisis in the Middle East would have a lot impact not only on the price of oil but in terms of lost opportunities for OFWs.
"Continued violent quarrels in the Middle East will create long-term paralysis in many sectors because we import and export many commodities in the Middle East," he said.
Global tourism might also decline, he said.
Ramos said the Philippines will face even bigger problems in terms of evacuating more affected Filipinos because hostilities are intensifying. He said the number of OFWs who have opted for repatriation – so far only 2,000 – is likely to grow because of the increasing hostilities.
He said the Philippines has a responsibility to protect its citizens but it does not have the on-site capability to move some 30,000 OFWs who are at risk due to the fighting between Israel and the Hezbollah.
He said the Philippines must seek the help of other countries or organizations that have the on-site capability such as the US, Australia, and the International Organization for Migration.
NEW TASK FORCE
President Arroyo has created a task force to oversee the repatriation of Filipino workers from Lebanon in anticipation of possible escalation of war.
The Task Force on Repatriation of OFWs from Lebanon, created under Executive Order 551 signed by Arroyo on July 26, is chaired by Vice President Noli de Castro, with Foreign Affairs Secretary Alberto Romulo and Brion as vice chairmen.
Members are Ermita, Duque, Andaya Jr., Social Welfare Secretary Esperanza Cabral and Press Secretary Ignacio Bunye.
The group is authorized to enlist assistance from the POEA, OWWA, the Office of the Presidential Middle East Preparedness Committee, the Office of the Envoy to the Gulf Cooperation Council, and the Commission on Filipinos Overseas.
"There is a need to enlist in this effort the assistance not only of government agencies, but other foreign governments and international relief organizations as well," Arroyo said in the EO.
A funding of P1 million, half to be taken from the OWWA funds and the other half from the budget department, will be made available to the group.
De Castro yesterday hosted a dialogue between senators and some of the officials involved in the Lebanon operations like Roque and Conejos.
Among those who attended the dialogue at De Castro’s office were Senators Richard Gordon, Ralph Recto, Pia Cayetano, Lito Lapid, Juan Ponce Enrile and Bong Revilla.
Except for Gordon, most of the senators who attended the dialogue were not part of the Senate probe on the Lebanon repatriation. – Dennis Gadil, JP Lopez, Regina Bengco and Jocelyn Montemayor
Sen. Jinggoy Ejercito-Estrada, chairman of the Senate panel that sought the subpoenas, said these were addressed to Marianito Roque, administrator of the Overseas Workers Welfare Administration (OWWA); Esteban Conejos Jr., foreign affairs undersecretary for migrant workers affairs; Secretaries Arturo Brion of labor and Rolando Andaya Jr. of budget; Rosalinda Baldoz, chief of the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration (POEA) and
Undersecretary Ricardo Blancaflor of the Office of the Executive Secretary.
A subpoena is issued to compel resource persons to attend Senate hearings.
The officials were invited by the Senate committee on labor, employment and human resources headed by Estrada Monday but did not appear.
Executive Secretary Eduardo Ermita, short of invoking Executive Order 464, told Estrada in a letter that the Cabinet officials were busy attending to the ongoing evacuation efforts in Lebanon.
Ermita also said the Senate probe did not refer to a specific law or bill that is being amended or crafted by Congress.
Estrada, chairman of the Senate committee on labor, employment and human resources, said the subpoenas will be hand-delivered to the officials "within the day."
He said the hearing resumes Monday.
"I’m hoping that they would respect (the subpoena) of the Senate as an institution. Kung hindi nila ako nirerespeto, respetuhin nila ang Senado," Estrada said.
Estrada on Monday said the absence of the officials only bolstered allegations that money from the OWWA was used for the election victory of President Arroyo in 2004.
"We are not grandstanding. We would like to know where the funds of OWWA were spent. Dahil there were rumors that the OWWA funds have been depleted already so we want to find out from them if it is really true," he said.
Sen. Franklin Drilon said contrary to what Ermita said, there is need for legislation to clarify how the OWWA funds should be administered and disbursed.
Drilon said the Migrant Workers Act and the OWWA law should be reconciled to clarify whether evacuation costs should be shouldered by the OWWA or by the national budget.
He said under the Migrant Workers Act, the ambassador to a country where Filipino workers are facing repatriation has control of the funds for repatriation.
FIGHT OVER FUND CONTROL
Drilon said it seems that the controversy between the OWWA, which maintains it has control of the funds, and Ambassador to Lebanon Al Francis Bichara, who has complained of insufficient funds for repatriation operations, is a fight over control of the funds.
"They are fighting over the golden rule: whoever has the gold rules. So if OWWA has the gold, OWWA rules," he said.
During the Monday hearing, the senators confirmed reports that OWWA has not sent a single centavo for the Lebanon operations.
Bichara, in a phone patch, told the hearing that only $19,000 was remitted but it was wired directly to the personal bank account of an OWWA officer based in Lebanon.
He said his office was running out of funds and racing against time in evacuating trapped Filipinos in Lebanon as borders are being closed down due to the growing conflict.
Roque said OWWA did not send the money to the personal account Mario Antonio, its Beirut-based finance and welfare officer.
He said the $20,000 fund was deposited in Antonio’s program account, and was used for medicines, flashlights, transportation and other similar assistance to OFWs.
He said they Bichara was probably just worried in case of an influx of OFWs to the embassy if war escalates.
Conejos said if there was any delay in the delivery of the additional $150,000 fund that the DFA sent to Beirut, it was because the cash was hand-carried after the Lebanon central bank imposed restrictions in the release of dollars.
He said Bichara was aware that the cash would be hand-carried.
He added that the additional $150,000 was sent by the DFA on Bichara’s request. He said it was on top of the $50,000 that the DFA initially sent despite the availability of $121,369.89 in the embassy’s accounts.
Conejos also said as of Tuesday night, 1,746 OFWs had been flown out of Lebanon.
Brion said they expect the number to increase after the International Organization for Migration facilitated three chartered flights to Manila that would carry 450 OFWs each.
Former President Fidel Ramos said investigations on the alleged OWWA fund mess should be conducted after government has ensured that all OFWs in Lebanon are safe.
"We should help put out the fire first before we investigate…because baka kumalat," Ramos said in a press conference in his Makati office.
He said a crisis in the Middle East would have a lot impact not only on the price of oil but in terms of lost opportunities for OFWs.
"Continued violent quarrels in the Middle East will create long-term paralysis in many sectors because we import and export many commodities in the Middle East," he said.
Global tourism might also decline, he said.
Ramos said the Philippines will face even bigger problems in terms of evacuating more affected Filipinos because hostilities are intensifying. He said the number of OFWs who have opted for repatriation – so far only 2,000 – is likely to grow because of the increasing hostilities.
He said the Philippines has a responsibility to protect its citizens but it does not have the on-site capability to move some 30,000 OFWs who are at risk due to the fighting between Israel and the Hezbollah.
He said the Philippines must seek the help of other countries or organizations that have the on-site capability such as the US, Australia, and the International Organization for Migration.
NEW TASK FORCE
President Arroyo has created a task force to oversee the repatriation of Filipino workers from Lebanon in anticipation of possible escalation of war.
The Task Force on Repatriation of OFWs from Lebanon, created under Executive Order 551 signed by Arroyo on July 26, is chaired by Vice President Noli de Castro, with Foreign Affairs Secretary Alberto Romulo and Brion as vice chairmen.
Members are Ermita, Duque, Andaya Jr., Social Welfare Secretary Esperanza Cabral and Press Secretary Ignacio Bunye.
The group is authorized to enlist assistance from the POEA, OWWA, the Office of the Presidential Middle East Preparedness Committee, the Office of the Envoy to the Gulf Cooperation Council, and the Commission on Filipinos Overseas.
"There is a need to enlist in this effort the assistance not only of government agencies, but other foreign governments and international relief organizations as well," Arroyo said in the EO.
A funding of P1 million, half to be taken from the OWWA funds and the other half from the budget department, will be made available to the group.
De Castro yesterday hosted a dialogue between senators and some of the officials involved in the Lebanon operations like Roque and Conejos.
Among those who attended the dialogue at De Castro’s office were Senators Richard Gordon, Ralph Recto, Pia Cayetano, Lito Lapid, Juan Ponce Enrile and Bong Revilla.
Except for Gordon, most of the senators who attended the dialogue were not part of the Senate probe on the Lebanon repatriation. – Dennis Gadil, JP Lopez, Regina Bengco and Jocelyn Montemayor
posted by brodkaster43 at Miyerkules, Agosto 02, 2006
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