Coalition wants Tugade out

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

ANGELES CITY—Pinoy Gumising Ka Movement (PGKM), a multisectoral coalition, called on President Duterte to replace Transport Secretary Arthur Tugade for failing to solve the traffic crisis in Metro Manila.

“We expect [Tugade] to be out by December,” PGKM chair Ruperto Cruz told the Inquirer.

Tugade declined to comment when contacted.

“President Duterte has Tugade” in the same manner former President Benigno Aquino III kept former Transport Secretary Joseph Emilio Abaya, who was also criticized for being inefficient, said Cruz, whose company manufactures and exports furniture.

Tugade has done nothing to ease traffic in Metro Manila, help commuters and hasten the flow of goods and services, according to the PGKM leader.

He described Tugade as a leader who has been “too much preoccupied” with securing emergency powers from Congress, which would allow the Department of Transportation (DOTr) to “forgo bidding for priority projects.”

Irreversible damage as CEO

Cruz said his group had been critical of Tugade since his stint as president and CEO of Clark Development Corp. (CDC).

“He had done irreversible damage to the CDC. There were a lot of confidentiality clauses in contracts, several of which were disadvantageous to the government and which were approved without public consultations. There was no level playing field,” Cruz said. He did not elaborate.

Based on records, Tugade was in charge when the CDC posted the highest revenue of P1.554 billion, the highest net income of P697 million and the highest cash position of P2.33 billion in 2015. It was under his term when CDC remitted to the national government cash dividends of P720 million for 2013, 2014 and 2015, records showed.

Cruz noted that what the former CDC leader created in Clark and Angeles City was traffic congestion. “Tugade had self-destructed due to the absence of short-term or long-term plans,” he said.

Earlier, Magdalo party-list Rep. Gary Alejano said Tugade’s appointment should not deserve a confirmation from Congress because the latter “sat on his job.”