Reports that P19 million is missing from the Employment Guarantee Trust Fund are not true, the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration (POEA) said Friday.

POEA chief Jennifer Manalili said such reports are “misleading" because not a single centavo is missing.

Established in 1985, the trust fund is meant to answer for monetary claims of workers who were hired on a government-to-government arrangement and experienced “inadequate" or “unsatisfactory" enforcement of contractual obligations by foreign government entities as employers.

To build the fund, $10 is set aside from the welfare fund contributions paid by foreign government employers for each worker hired through the POEA.

In 2003, the POEA Governing Board issued Resolution No. 07 which raised the amount to be collected from foreign employers to a minimum of $50 or more than P2,300 for each worker hired.

The resolution said the fund will be deposited in the National Treasury as Special Trust Account to be managed and disbursed by the POEA in coordination with the Department of Labor and Employment, Department of Finance, Department of Budget and Management, Overseas Workers Welfare Administration (OWWA) and the Commission on Audit.

The new rate, however, was never “implemented," said Manalili.

“All welfare fund contributions are remitted to the (OWWA), which manages the fund," she said. GMANews.TV tried reaching the OWWA chief Carmelita Dimzon for comment but calls to the agency head went unanswered.

But Manalili assured the public that the POEA maintains a “very transparent" financial policy. She also assured Filipino workers and the recruitment industry of the agency’s continued efforts to streamline its processes. - GMANews.TV