Embattled Tugade still trusted by Duterte—Palace

Department of Transportation Secretary Arthur Tugade. INQUIRER FILE PHOTO/John Paul R. Autor

Transportation Secretary Arthur Tugade still enjoys the trust and confidence of President Rodrigo Duterte amid calls for him to resign, Malacañang said on Saturday.

“Tugade, as a presidential appointee, enjoys the trust and confidence of the President. With barely a few months and he is really doing his best naman po,” Communications Office Assistant Secretary Ana Marie Banaag said in an interview over state-run dzRB.

Various groups have called for the resignation of Tugade for his alleged involvement with gaming tycoon Jack Lam and the continuing traffic woes. Tugade served as the head of Clark Development Corp. (CDC), while Lam had an online casino at Fontana Casino and Leisure Park in Clark, Pampanga.

READ: Is Tugade connected with Jack Lam? Critics want him probed

“We acknowledge may mga ibang sector (that there are sectors) [which] are calling for Secretary Tugade to resign but then, nakikita naman po natin (we can see), they are doing their best also at their end to solve the traffic problem and everything that has concerns about the DOTr,” Banaag said.

READ: DOTr takes up cudgels for Tugade: ‘He’s an upright man’

Duterte earlier ordered the arrest of the gaming tycoon due to bribery and economic sabotage.

Lam lost his right to run his 300-hectare Fontana Leisure Parks and Casino in Clark after the CDC had suspended the certificate of registration and tax exemption of his company.

The “Oust Tugade Movement” had cast doubt on the secretary and urged that he should also be investigated in connection with Lam’s casino in Clark. IDL