Antiporda says only Duterte can tell him to step down as DENR exec

DENR spokesperson Undersecretary Benny Antiporda. (Photo from an INQUIRER.net video)

MANILA, Philippines — Amid calls for his resignation, Environment Undersecretary Benny Antiporda on Thursday said he will leave his post if President Rodrigo Duterte says he should do so.

“Dito naman po, na you’re calling for my resignation, you can write to the President or you can make a complaint against me. If the President says na I should leave my post, then I will do it. Wala pong problema yan,” Antiporda said in an interview over CNN Philippines.

(On the calls for my resignation, you can write to the President or you can make a complaint against me. If the President says na I should leave my post, then I will do it. There’s no problem with that.)

The Geographic Society of the University of the Philippines (UP) is calling for Antiporda’s resignation considering his “ill-fitting background” for the job and for disregarding Filipino scientists’ opinion.

Antiporda received flak on social media after he called UP experts “bayaran” for getting multi-million funds for consultation fees.

On Thursday, he apologized to the entire UP as an institution saying he was carried away by his emotions.

“Mali yung salita ko na bayaran kayo, yun po, ireretract ko yun,” he said.

(It was wrong when I said you were paid. I retract that statement.)

Even so, Antiporda said UP experts should have communicated their criticisms directly to their agency instead of publicizing it in the media.

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