THE OMBUDSMAN has found the former acting administrator of the National Irrigation Administration (NIA) of harassment and oppression of the agency’s employees.

In a decision dated Sept. 11, the Ombudsman ordered the suspension of former NIA acting administrator Benjamin D. Antiporda and fined him an amount equivalent to a year of his salary.

Mr. Antiporda told BusinessWorld in a Viber message that he plans to appeal the decision, claiming the complaint against him was meant to cover up corruption within the agency.

“While I can only bow to the wisdom of the Office of the Ombudsman, may I point out that the punishment ordered against me appears unjustifiable and highly prejudicial considering that I only served at the NIA as acting administrator for less than four months,” he said.

“If upholding the public good has become punishable nowadays, then I take things with gladness in my heart,” he added.

During the Senate Blue Ribbon Committee hearing last month, Senator Rafael “Raffy” T. Tulfo cited NIA’s own data in June 2022 showing that only a little over 65% of the country’s 3,128,000-hectare total irrigation area was irrigated. — John Victor D. Ordoñez

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