MANILA — National Irrigation Administration (NIA) head Benny Antiporda on Wednesday claimed complaints from the agency's employees which led to his suspension were part of a "smear campaign."

In a press conference, Antiporda called the allegations of his colleagues "exaggerated, misleading, and malicious."

"This is a smear campaign against me," Antiporda said.

"Itong inilagay nila ay napakamali, napaka-misleading parang gumaganti ako sa tao. Alam n'yo ba mga tao rito majority na-promote? Paanong retaliatory?"

(The accusations were wrong; it's very misleading for me to retaliate against people. Did you know that majority of employees here were promoted? How can it be retaliatory?)

The Office of the Ombudsman placed Antiporda under preventive suspension for 6 months without pay following complaints from the agency's workers on alleged grave misconduct, conduct prejudicial to the best interest of service, and oppression.

According to the Ombudsman, Antiporda was displeased when NIA lawyers opined that the most senior officer of NIA was Ricardo Visaya and that he should retain his post as administrator.

Antiporda also allegedly asked NIA members to drop the term "acting" from his designation as acting administrator. This allegedly caused Antiporda to retaliate against employees by preventing them from travelling.

He also supposedly humiliated some employees, reassigned them without basis, and threatened not to renew the appointment of some workers who fixed the air-conditioning unit of his residence but could not finish the job at once.

WORKERS' GRIPES

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NIA Corporate Secretary Atty. Michelle Raymundo, one of the the complainants, said she had raised concern on Antiporda's bid to modify his designation so that he could become "in his words, ‘full-fledged’ administrator."

"I said, that might be a problem because your appointment papers say something else,” Raymundo told ANC's "Rundown" on Wednesday.

"Only the President himself can modify the appointment and remove the term ‘acting’ from said appointment," she added.

Raymundo said board members disregarded her advice and instead voted to modify Antiporda's appointment. But she said Antiporda seemed "angry" at her after their meeting and "started issuing orders designed to harass me."

"He removed my janitress, he started turning off the electricity in my office, and then he ordered my office to begin locking, shutting down at 5 p.m., when in NIA, we were operating under a flexi time arrangement," she said.

Raymundo also alleged that Antiporda made it a policy that all documents coming to and from her office must pass through his first.

"And then, one day while I was at a meeting, I was informed I would not be allowed to enter my office anymore. And indeed that happened, there was one day where I arrived at the office and then the office remained padlocked throughout the day. Apparently the person who had the key to the padlock could not be found," Raymundo said.

"After that, I just left the office and went on leave," she said.

She said Antiporda also placed several managers on "floating status."

ANTIPORDA FIRES BACK

Antiporda said 2 of the employees who made the allegations against him were facing complaints for graft and supposedly wanted to get back at him for investigating them.

He recalled an instance wherein Raymundo allegedly attempted to hide documents regarding an unfinished irrigation project. To prevent this from recurring, Antiporda said he decided to transfer Raymundo to his office so they could work closely.

“Ayaw niya talaga mag-cooperate. Ang pinalalabas niya rito ay brinusko ko siya, brinaso ko siya. Ang ginawa ko ay para protektahan ang ating dokumento,” Antiporda said.

(She won't cooperate. She's trying to make it appear that was rude to her. What I did was meant to protect our documents.)

Raymundo however said, "I have not received a centavo of money or received any favor that is not in accordance with what my job entails."

During the press conference, Antiporda said he did not have problems with being addressed as an "acting" administrator.

“Ito namang Michelle Raymundo, noong bago pa lang akong administrador, ipinangangalandakan niya na ako ay acting administrator. So ano ang palabas sa mga tao? 'Acting lang 'yan. Papalitan din niya.' 'Yong sinasabing papalitan ako, ‘yon ang masakit. Nakaka-demoralize sa tao,” Antiporda said.

(When I was just starting as a new administrator, this Michelle Raymundo was stressing that I'm an acting administrator. So what would people think? "He's just an acting administrator, he would be replaced soon." That's painful. It demoralizes a person.)

But Antiporda admitted that he tapped General Service Division employees to fix an his air-conditioning unit in his home on a Sunday. He said he gave the workers an incentive of P20,000.

TO QUIT OR STAY?

Following his suspension, Antiporda said he was thinking of resigning as NIA administrator to prevent President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. from being humiliated for appointing him.

But Antiporda said he would wait for further instructions as he believes that the President has the final say on whether or not he should stay in office.

"I’m offering to resign not because that I’m afraid of the situation, but it’s because I don't want the appointing body, which is our President, to be humiliated," Antiporda said.

Antiporda said he would also file a counter-affidavit and planned to reach out to the Office of the Ombudsman to request a copy of the complaint, which he said he had yet to receive.

"Sa usapin sa Ombudsman, masyadong naging mabilis ang nangyari na hindi kami nabigyan ng fair chance para makapagbigay ng fair side namin. Immediately ibinaba ang preventive suspension," Antiporda said.

(In the case of the Ombudsman, everything happened fast that we didn't get a fair chance to give our side. A preventive suspension was immediately served.)

During Antiporda’s suspension, NIA senior deputy Administrator Eryl Nagtala will serve as officer-in-charge.

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