Board threatens to stop P5m fund to OWWA chief

The board of trustees of the Overseas Workers' Welfare Administration (OWWA) has threatened to take away the agency's P5 million ($100,000) yearly fund from Wilhelm Soriano, OWWA Administrator, said Labour Secretary, Patricia Sto. Tomas.

The scheduled July 12 meeting of the board will centre on the plan to strip Soriano of his P5 million ($100,000) "discretionary fund," said Sto. Tomas who sits as chairman of the board.

"I've just learned that he is being given P5 million ($100,000) this year," said Sto. Tomas.

Last May, Labour Undersecre-tary Manuel Imson disclosed to the media that OWWA, an agency that has been sourcing its operations and salary expenses from the contributions of overseas Filipino workers, has been allocating an estimated P50 million ($1 million) a year for these employees.

The OWWA administrator gets $100,000 for himself, Imson added.

An ordinary OWWA employee's salary is about 150 per cent more than the average government employee.

He receives 14 different allowances, two bonuses a year, a P7,200 ($144) food allowance, P25,000 ($500) gift cheques, and provident fund membership, sources said.

Meanwhile, the beleaguered OWWA chief denied the allegations that he receives a very high discretionary fund.

"If they find anything, then why don't they disapprove it," he argued. Soriano has a strained relationship with Sto. Tomas.