Group warns of ‘double insertion’ using OWWA fund

MANILA, Philippines — Migrante International on Thursday warned of a possible case of “double insertion" in the P250-million money from the Overseas Workers Welfare Administration (OWWA) fund to finance the government's economic stimulus package.

"We smell something fishy with this stimulus package. And as usual, they are targeting the funds of OWWA, which belong to us OFWs," Migrante chairperson Garry Martinez said in a press statement.

"This program is not new. Mrs. Arroyo is deceiving OFWs when she presented this so-called package," he said.

Martinez pointed out that the allocation from the stimulus fund will only create double budgeting for programs that already exist. He presented the case of the P250 million allocated from the fund of the OWWA which President Arroyo signed under Administrative Order 248.

President Arroyo signed AO 248 last December 4 for OWWA to contribute P250 million to the stimulus package. The amount was supposed to finance the program of OWWA, which in fact, has been part of the agency's annual budget since 1986.

He added that Malacaňang can now easily pocket the P250 million from the stimulus package while OWWA will just continue to use the original allotted budget for the program.

“The President had already raided the OFW fund during her campaign in the 2004 election, and she will probably do it again on this coming 2010 election!" warned Martinez.

The group was referring to the P540 million OWWA fund that were transferred to PhilHealth during the 2004 presidential election from the OWWA Medicare Program. PhilHealth insurance cards were distributed for free during President Arroyo's campaign sorties.

Martinez also warned that the stimulus fund could be another source of corruption to finance alleged plan of President Arroyo to perpetuate itself into power beyond 2010.

"How can we trust a corrupt-ridden administration, which has installed itself into power due to electoral fraud? P330 billion is more than enough to railroad President Arroyo's Charter change plans, to finance a possible coup d’ etat or another electoral fraud," he said. - D'Jay Lazaro, GMANews.TV

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

PCG: China’s bullying in West Philippine Sea undermines international law --- Ghio Ong - The Philippine Star

MANILA, Philippines — Letting China sustain its aggression in the West Philippine Sea would make other countries doubt the strength of international law currently being asserted by the Philippines, Commodore Jay Tarriela of the Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) said. “Allowing China to blatantly disregard the established rules-based order threatens the very foundation that we all depend on,” he wrote in a post on X last Tuesday. He added, “If we permit this, countries worldwide may forget why this order was created in the first place. Nations could begin to doubt the significance of adhering to international law if powerful bullies can easily violate it.” Tarriela also said defiance of other countries to a rules-based order would result in the prevalence of cruelty. He wrote, “This could lead us back to a time when might makes right, undermining the global structures that keep human greed, savagery and barbarism in check. Such a scenario would not only invite challenges from aggressive ...
Read more

China ships maintain presence in key West Philippine Sea areas --- Michael Punongbayan - The Philippine Star

STAR / Michael Varcas MANILA, Philippines — While Chinese vessels in the West Philippine Sea (WPS) have decreased in number, they have maintained a presence in three key land features where naval and coast guard ships have intensified operations in the past seven days, according to the Philippine Navy. Latest monitoring by the Philippine Navy showed armed ships of the People’s Liberation Army Navy (PLAN) maintaining a menacing presence around the grounded BRP Sierra Madre in Ayungin Shoal, Panatag Shoal and Escoda Shoal. According to the Philippine Navy, there are 17 Chinese military vessels and 28 China Coast Guard (CCG) boats spotted inside the country’s exclusive economic zone (EEZ) between Sept. 23 and 30, or one vessel more than in the previous week Sept.17-23. Five of the warships were seen roaming around the vicinity of Escoda Shoal, along with 10 CCG vessels and 12 maritime militia vessels (MMVs). There are also two PLAN ships in Ayungin Shoal as well as 10 CCG boats and 12...
Read more

Social media seen as cause of rising intermarriages --- Helen Flores - The Philippine Star

MANILA, Philippines — The Commission on Filipinos Overseas (CFO) sees social media as the main reason for the rising number of Filipinos marrying or becoming partners of foreign nationals. In 2022, the CFO recorded 6,854 marriages or partnerships with foreign nationals, a 40.1 percent increase from the 4,891 “intermarriages” recorded in 2021. “First of all, what we see in the increase in the marriage rate of Filipinos or Filipinos with foreign partners is because of social media, (that) is number one; matchings; letters, introduction of their friends,” CFO chairperson Romulo Arugay said at the Bagong Pilipinas Ngayon public briefing yesterday. Arugay said the agency has been registering a high number of intermarriages since 2007, but the figures went down during the COVID-19 pandemic. From over 6,500 Filipinos who married foreign nationals, only 600 are men, he said. Most of them are married to Americans, Japanese, Germans, Canadians and Australians, Arugay said. Arugay warned Fi...
Read more