Daily Tribune (Philippines) - HotSpot
FORMIDABLE TUGADE Taking charge
President Rodrigo Duterte has identified Transportation Secretary Arthur Tugade as one of the three pillars of his official family who consistently delivered exceptional performance and responsible for transforming the country into the “darling of investors” in Asia. Together with Department of Public Works and Highways Secretary Mark Villar and Department of Trade and Industry Secretary Ramon Lopez, the President cited the many accomplishments of the Department of Transportation (DoTr) under his leadership, particularly the marked improvement in the country’s airports.
“They are all good and they have completed the mission that I gave them,” Mr. Duterte told the Daily Tribune in an exclusive interview. “Tugade, how many airports have improved, and Villar undertook projects for those long roads.”
A humble Tugade accepted the presidential praise with quiet modesty. “It’s a great honor but I am merely following the mandate given to me by the President, to make the lives of Filipinos more comfortable,” he said. He would reveal the DoTr is building and rehabilitating at least 200 ports across the country.
Indeed, the most immediate issue that greeted Secretary Tugade when he took the helm was the notorious Laglag-Bala or bullet planting and the Bukas-Bagahe or baggage pilferage extortion activities in airports that victimized both local and foreign passengers. The series of incidents embarrassed the whole nation. Tugade, however, got rid of the racketeers just a few months after taking the DoTr post.
To improve the Philippine image abroad and to attract more foreign tourists, Tugade initiated the Clark International Airport improvement program, the expansion of Terminal 2 of the Mactan-Cebu International Airport and the unveiling of the new Bohol-Panglao International Airport. In addition, he also ordered the rehabilitation and upgrades of the domestic airports of Virac, Marinduqe, Tuguegarao, San Vicente, Busuanga, Maasin, Ormoc, Tacloban, Catarman, Ipil, Mati, Camiguin, and Siargao.
The Secretary also acted as taxman after he compelled flag carrier Philippine Airlines (PAL) to settle outstanding obligations of P6 billion representing unpaid air navigational charges owed the national government.
Most unforgettable was the daily suffering of passengers of the nation’s railway system. Persistent breakdowns, lack of coaches and passenger overflow, particularly at the Metro Rail Transit 3 (MRT-3), hounded the railways no end. But with the MRT-3 Maintenance Transition Team, service interruptions and passenger unloading incidents dropped from 417 in 2015 to 57 in 2018; 586 in 2016 and 463 in 2017.
But as a permanent solution to the string of MRT 3 woes, the DoTr signed a deal with Sumitomo Corporation, Mitsubishi Heavy Industries and TES Philippines for a rehabilitation and maintenance program designed to bring back its old form.
From the economic perspective, the ambitious Build, Build, Build (BBB) program of the Duterte Administration, undertaken mostly by the DoTr, contributed to the steady rise in the country’s local output measured as the gross domestic product (GDP). The acceleration of the infrastructure buildup projects boosted the economic managers’ target 7 percent GDP growth. And for the first time in history, public spending as percent of GDP exceeded 5 percent.
For Tugade, mobility and connectivity in the transport sector are key components in further expanding the economy and in socio-economic development. The focus in building new airports and upgrading existing ones is the transportation sector’s contribution to regional and national progress. And with that we salute you sir!