The Center for Trade Union and Human Rights (CTUHR) vehemently condemns the murder of Niruh Kyle Antatico on October 11 in Cagayan de Oro. Together with the Filipino workers and people, we highly suspect that he was killed because of his exposes of corruption cases in his former employer, the National Irrigation Authority (NIA).

Antatico’s murder is a blow to the unfolding struggle of the Filipino workers and people against corruption in government. Both his murder and his accusations should be investigated by the Ferdinand Marcos Jr government and those responsible should immediately be held accountable.

Antatico, a law graduate and former legal researcher of the NIA-Northern Mindanao, was exposing through his social media accounts funds that have gone missing, sewers that are half-built, and contracts that appear to be anomalous. He was killed by two motorcycle-riding men, which has become a symbol in the country of extra-judicial killings carried out by the state.

This is a prominent case of extrajudicial killing that indicts the Marcos Jr government for either its sin of commission or ommission. It is reprehensible but very likely that some powerful people in government who were his former superiors at work are the ones responsible for Antatico’s murder.

Corruption whistleblowers should be proactively protected by the government, given the country’s record of persecuting whistleblowers, failure to hold corrupt government officials accountable, and climate of impunity for extrajudicial killings and other human rights violations.

Antatico’s murder presents a dire warning about the prospects of holding corrupt government officials accountable. Those responsible for killing him, the gunmen and the mastermind, and for the corruption cases that he exposed should be immediately arrested, prosecuted and held accountable.

Antatico’s extrajudicial killing is a litmus test for the Marcos Jr government. If those responsible for the murder of a corruption whistleblower and for smaller cases of corruption in far-flung provinces are not held accountable, the Filipino workers and people do not have any reason to believe that the big-time corrupt contractors and government officials that are being investigated at the Senate will be held accountable.

Given the gravity and nature of Antatico’s case, no less than the Department of Justice, the National Bureau of Investigation and other related national government agencies should take the lead in the investigation. The Marcos Jr government’s failure to deliver results on Antatico’s case can only fuel further the Filipino workers and people’s simmering anger at corruption in government.