Tugade, the man you love to hate

One of President Duterte’s secretaries I admire is the man most everyone hates, and would like the President to fire. But I like him and I am asking (my first request ever) the President, to keep him in office.

I was one of millions of motorists who cursed (though not with f***ing” words) Department of Transportation Secretary Arturo “Art” Planta Tugade for the monstrous traffic jams in Metro Manila. I thought through his appointment would come to life Rod Stewart’s song, “Fill my heart with gladness/ Take away my sadness/ Ease my troubles.” From July to October, there would be gladdening clear portions of EDSA and C-5, but they were miracles. Troubles did not ease.

Not until I and some rational media persons met him and read his reports last week did I realize that Tugade’s the right person for the job. Let me give you glimpses into our two-hour conversation.

First thing we learned was that he did not promise things to be bright and beautiful at the click of the fingers. He did not, he once told eager-beaver reporters, that traffic would be solved in his first 100 days in office. He said, he was “not sira ulo” (crazy) to have said that. He merely said, “There would be changes.”

Some of those changes unbelievers would not see or appreciate were the shutting down of colorums; extending color coding hours from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m, increasing the number of LRT/MRT trips; rerouting of vehicles to ease up traffic at EDSA and C-5, opening up private subdivision roads to public vehicles, stopping of the notorious dagdag-bawas practice at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport.

But two problems inherited from past transport agency heads have remained unsolved: procurement of 6.7 million driver’s licenses and 5.4 million license plates.

One vital discovery is that Tugade’s job does not only cover land transport, but also the air and maritime sectors.

Last September, Tugade submitted to Sen. Grace Poe, chair of the Senate committee on public services, a list of sectoral projects the Department of Transportation will implement to address the traffic and congestion crisis, as well as the draft bill granting President Duterte “emergency powers.” As of this writing, no decision has been made on the proposed projects, but questions have been raised about their cost and consequences.

The P7-trillion plan explained in 64 pages, carries a mixed bag of projects, including improving the rail transit systems, speedy Tutuban-Clark-Subic travel by train; moving the NAIA to Bulacan; more ports; improving RoRo facilities; using barges to transport goods; improving /constructing airports in the provinces, CCTV surveillance monitoring systems.

With the Plan’s implementation, Budget Secretary Benjamin Diokno said, the Philippines would see the “Golden Age of Infrastructure” in the next six years.

To get these projects going, the Plan calls for emergency powers for the President and the executive branch to exercise police power, and employ executive actions and measures to ensure effective implementation and avoid being hampered by court suits filed by affected entities. With the emergency powers, implementation will be cut short.

Critics are alarmed that granting the President such emergency powers will eventually lead to the declaration of martial law. (Oh no, not another Marcos regime! – my comment.)

The draft law calls for the appointment of a Traffic Crisis Manager, with the DOTr secretary himself designated as such. He will exercise overall control and oversee the implementation of the Plan.

The transport sector objects to the designation of Tugade as Traffic Crisis Manager, citing conflict of interest in view of his business ventures.

The Plan will be funded from the Motor Vehicle Users Charge Fund under RA 8794; 10 percent of the Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corp. annual aggregate gross earnings, and the current fiscal year’s appropriation of the agencies involved in the implementation of the approved law.

Published interviews by credible media writers show that he is competent, hardworking and honest, the latter of which is required of Duterte’s choices for his Cabinet.

A successful entrepreneur, in 2012, Tugade was appointed 12th president and chief executive officer of Clark Development Corp., a state-owned corporation tasked to manage the Clark Freeport and Clark Special Economic Zone. His performance led to his being judged CEO of the Year finalist, and a Bossing Awardee, and a host of entrepreneurial awards.

At the end of three years, CDC posted the highest revenue of P1.554 billion, the highest net income of P697 million and the highest cash position of P2,33 million in 2015.

The top gun at Clark, he chose not to receive his transportation, rice and representation allowances. He had gifts returned to givers, and required employees to do the same. (As DOTr chief today, his salary is P87,000; he uses no government vehicle, exchanging his own Mercedes Benz and BMW with an incredulous son’s pick-up.)

He gave up CDC to help Duterte run his campaign for president. They had been schoolmates in San Beda College, from the grades up to the college of law. They were buddy- buddy with boys from the provinces, and watched from the sidelines “the elite” – Raul Roco, who was captain of the debating team, and Rene Saguisag who wrote poetry, “(which) was written, but mine was from the heart.” (Roco and Saguisag became senators.)

Art, 70, was born in Claveria, Isabela. His family had no resources when their house was gutted by a fire in an informal settler’s area in Tatalon Estate, Quezon City. The San Beda College priests, recognizing his intelligence, gave him free scholarship up to college where he finished liberal arts cum laude and law magna cum laude.

He worked for big-time corporations, and eventually founded and chaired Perry’s Group of Companies (the business was named after his deceased son Perry), its flagship company Trans-global Consolidator’s Inc. which was engaged in logistics, travel, trucking, fuel, trading, and agriculture. The companies’ employees enjoyed free lunch, monthly grocery and transportation allowances, but who had to work hard and be honest. Successful management made the owner a multi-millionaire. Perry’s Holding Corp. is now owned and run by his four children.

He came to dinner at XO-Conrad Hotel, rugged-faced, with salt-and pepper hair, in a green jacket, ready to be grilled by our group. He was jolly, cracking jokes with gusto. He was late, he said, not because of traffic, which people easily use as an excuse for tardiness. People have to change their “state of mind,” he said. “Let’s stop blaming traffic. If you’re late, you’re late.” He admitted though that when he’s caught in a traffic jam, “I feel ashamed.” But why is there a jam? Someone may have run out of gas and stalled traffic, he said.

He had wanted to become an ambassador to Timor-Leste, an underdeveloped country. “When you’re an ambassador you’re an ambassador for life.” But his friend Digong appointed him the 18th transportation secretary. He wonders sometimes if he had made a mistake of accepting the job, “but not to the point that I regret it.”

* * * Email: dominitorrevillas@gmail.com