A social organization of journalists in the Philippines expressed its support to National Irrigation Administration (NIA) Acting Administrator Benny Antiporda amid his “fight to clear his name.”
Antiporda received the “full support” of the National Press Club of the Philippines (NPC) after the Office of the Ombudsman ordered his suspension following the complaints separately filed by several NIA employees for alleged grave misconduct, conduct prejudicial to the best interest of service, harassment, ignorance of the law, and oppression.
NPC, in relation to this, argued that the Ombudsman's suspension of former two-time NPC President Antiporda was done with “undue haste and under questionable circumstances.”
“e was not even given the courtesy of seeing the flimsy complaints against him until now. glaringly demonstrates the sad plight of the government’s campaign against graft and corrupt practices these days,” said NPC on Sunday, Nov. 20.
Earlier, the suspended NIA Administrator labeled the allegations as “petty,” dismissing and claiming that these may have been a result of his campaign against corruption at NIA.
“With the action against Antiporda—while failing to act, until now, on the complaints he filed against suspected grafters at NIA plus the multitude of cases filed against other public officials and which remain languishing at the OMB, the issue has gone beyond the personality of Antiporda,” NPC added.
“The issue now centers on the seriousness and credibility of the government’s campaign against graft and corruption in its entirety and on the credibility and seriousness of the OMB in addressing this social malaise, which is a betrayal of public trust,” it furthered.
With these, the group enjoined all NPC-affiliated media organizations in the Philippines to denounce this “grave injustice” and support Antiporda and his “campaign against corruption.”