Transport chief can’t even drive but knows life’s rough roads

Transportation Secretary Arthur Tugade stresses a point during the Nov. 9 Meet Inquirer Multimedia Forum.—ELOISA LOPEZ

Poverty taught Arthur Tugade many things in his youth.

Things like patience, when he had to wait in line just to take a bath at the communal water pump; or caution, when he had to find his next meal by catching fish in a creek using a live wire.

Those daily hardships, however, denied him the chance to learn how to drive.

Yet today, the 71-year-old Tugade faces with one of the toughest Cabinet assignments from the Duterte administration: To make life easier for millions of motorists and commuters in Metro Manila who virtually die slow deaths every day while caught in heavy traffic.

Four months after being appointed Secretary of the Department of Transportation (DOTr), Tugade is bent on “making a difference” in the agency the way he earlier steered Clark Development Corp. (CDC) to “unparalleled” success during the previous administration.

Early critics

Still, he said, there are times when he asks himself why he took the job and said yes to President Duterte, his friend and fellow San Beda alumnus.

When he took over at the DOTr in July, the department was beleaguered not only by the worsening road congestion but also by mounting complaints over the faulty Metro Rail Transit (MRT), delayed flights, and even the so-called “tanim-bala” (bullet-planting) extortion scheme at Ninoy Aquino International Airport (Naia).

And despite his initial efforts to address what he considered systemic problems, critics hardly gave him a honeymoon period. Various groups and some lawmakers already called for his resignation for his supposed “incompetence.”

What has he done “to deserve a punishment like this?” Tugade grumbled in mock self-pity at the recent Meet Inquirer Multimedia forum.

But behind the jest is a work attitude steeled by tough journeys in his life and career. The challenge that awaits him at DOTr, he said, may prove to be “(my) opportunity to give back to the society that has been so good to me.”

“It’s payback time… If not for the government, this country and the people who cared for me, maybe I will not be here in front of you,” Tugade told Inquirer reporters and editors.

Born in Claveria town in Cagayan province, Tugade grew up in the slums of Sampaloc, Manila, where his parents, who were public works employees, relocated the family when he was still a small child. Their house stood between the wall of the University of Manila and an estero (creek).

He could still recall the day a fire broke out in the neighborhood and threw the family into a panic. “Our parents practically threw us (siblings) out of the house so we could quickly go over the wall.”

The Tugades would rebuild their lives in another slum area, in Tatalon, Quezon City, where life proved to be just as hard. Just to take a bath, Arthur needed to wait in line at the poso (manually-operated water pump). A hole in the ground served as the family’s toilet.

“Whenever it rained, our house would be flooded,” he said. “But the good thing about it was that clumps of kangkong (water spinach) would become easy pickings as they float around.”

In the same estero, Tugade acquired a taste for the freshwater fish known as gurami, which he stunned and paralyzed using a live wire. “They would just rise to the surface,” he said.

Given their condition, Tugade said, it was impossible for him to enter San Beda if not for the Benedictines who run the school. They granted him a scholarship in gradeschool, an opportunity he never wasted and kept earning till he finished law. But as he still scrimped on cash, there were days when he just walked long distances instead of taking a jeepney to reach the campus.

Business success

Tugade graduated cum laude in 1971 (one batch ahead of Duterte).

The years that followed saw his steady rise as an entrepreneur, crowned by the establishment of his family-owned Perry’s Group of Companies (named in memory of his son Marc Perry, who died at age 12). The group serves as the holding firm of Tugade’s flagship logistics business Trans-Global Consolidator’s Inc., as well as his other ventures in tourism and hospitality, fuel distribution, food and property development.

Prior to his appointment as DOTr chief, Tugade served as CDC president and chief executive officer under the Benigno Aquino administration for almost four years. It was his first time to work in the public sector.

“I entered government without any experience but only the culture, values and ways of doing things that I’ve grown accustomed to when I was a student and an employee, and which helped me as I moved from Tatalon to Ayala Alabang (an upscale subdivision in Muntinlupa City),” he said.

This culture, he said, abhors corruption and promotes respect, values punctuality and encourages service with a smile.

CDC feats

It helped him bring CDC to a level of performance “unparalleled in the 20 years of its existence.” Under his watch, he said, the government agency that manages the Clark Freeport and the Clark Special Economic Zone posted P1.554 billion in revenues in 2015, for a net income of P697 million and cash of P2.3 billion. It remitted to the national government P400 million in cash dividends, bringing to P720 million the agency’s total remittances in the last five years.

“This is the kind of culture that I brought to the transportation department,” he said.

During the Duterte administration’s first 100 days, the DOTr under Tugade has taken credit for the following:

At Naia, on-time flight arrivals increased from 47 percent to 71 percent, owing in part to operational restrictions that the department has set in place.

Airline passengers found carrying a bullet in their bag—which makes them potential victims of the tanim-bala scam—are no longer apprehended and detained if they are not carrying a gun.

From 46 in June (the last month of the Aquino administration), the number of times MRT operations broke down due to technical problems was reduced to a monthly average of 38 since July. The DOTr attributed the improvement to better train maintenance.

But as to the daily traffic jams, Tugade stressed that he alone couldn’t fix them and “I need everyone’s help, understanding and sacrifice.”

He made a particular appeal to the media. “If we had done something right and it’s worth reporting, do (emphasize) the good news. We’re not yet even a year old on the job, so don’t be too harsh on us,” he said. “We need you to work with us.”

“The success of the transport sector is not Tugade’s success but the country’s. I am an individual with no shining past (but) a glowing present and hopefully a brighter future. Join me in solving traffic and transportation problems. I can’t do it alone.”