Christina Erbon and Genevieve Poquiz


Amid issues concerning the safety of migrant workers, the Overseas Workers Welfare Administration (OWWA) went under fire after posts about the personal life of its administrator Arnel Ignacio circulated from the agency’s official Facebook page.

Photo Courtesy by OWWA/Alfred Frias/Presidential Photo

“Mga Kabayan OFWS payag ba kayo muling mag mahal ang puso ni OWWA Admin Arnell Ignacio [?] Kaya comment na type YES kung payag kayo. Type NO naman kung hindi,” the now deleted post captioned. 

A week later, the agency published another post fixating on Ignacio’s Patek Philippe wrist watch said to be worth $21,000 (P1.1 million) to $485,000 (P26 million) while eating in an eatery in Bacoor, Cavite, calling it “very humble yet sosyal.”

In a press briefing, Ignacio promised that the group in charge of OWWA's Facebook page "is being reorganized” and stated that "this young, aggressive social media practitioner [behind the survey] was reprimanded already." 

He claimed that their social media manager had good intentions, but they maintained that since they wanted to keep the professionalism of their official sites, they took down the said posts.

"Mayroon kaming nakasama na super aggressive eh, super aggressive kasi nga gusto ko na ‘yong aming social media page eh makasabay ba, makasabay sa bilis ninyo," he explained.

On the other hand, Ignacio urged the netizens commenting on the blunder of their agency to disregard his love life and turn to more valuable things that the agency has done.

“Let’s dwell on the more significant motions of OWWA, para do’n sa OFW,” he stated.

Edited by Audrei Mendador