Reinventing the DOTr

From day one when he first assumed office, President Rodrigo Duterte issued notice to all people working in the government “to stop” all kinds of shenanigans in their offices and agencies. However, President Duterte fumed, his warning apparently fell on deaf ears.

But the President is not about to give up. Putting together a Task Force Against Corruption, the President designated Department of Justice (DOJ) Secretary Menardo Guevarra to start swinging the ax and chop off the heads of these grafters and the corrupt ones out of the government.

Initially, the Task Force identified five government offices and agencies in its “priority” list to start off, namely: the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR); the Bureau of Customs (BOC); the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH); the Philippine Health Insurance Corp. (PhilHealth); and, the Land Registration Authority (LRA).

Although not included in this list, Department of Transportation (DOTr) Secretary Arthur Tugade took it upon himself to initiate their own house cleaning. Tugade disclosed during our Kapihan sa Manila Bay Zoom Webinar last Wednesday that he convened top officials of his department and heads of all DOTr-attached agencies to fully cooperate with the DOJ-led Task Force Against Corruption.

“I am happy the DOTr is not part of the five agencies,” Tugade quipped. Nonetheless, Tugade vowed to support the Task Force in its job to cleanse the government from corruption. In fact, he disclosed, he ordered a review of all the statement of assets, liabilities and net worth (SALN) submitted by all DOTr officials, including him, and compare these in the past annual submissions. Likewise, he added, he ordered a review of all cases of DOTr projects and transactions that were questioned in the past to assist the Task Force in their investigations.

Tugade virtually started the DOTr when he was appointed along with other Cabinet officials on day one of the Duterte administration. Because it was on the same day – June 30,2016 – when Republic Act (RA) 10844 took effect and created the Department of Information and Communication (DICT). That same law removed the communications sector out of the erstwhile Department of Transportation and Communications (DOTC).

So Tugade has the distinction of being the “first” secretary of the DOTr.

Like starting back to square one, Tugade was spared from the graft-tainted projects and highly controversial transactions he inherited from his immediate predecessors at the DOTC. But instituting changes and reforms really are not popular undertakings. In implementing reforms, Tugade must show the kind of leadership who does his work without fear and without favor.

Among these reforms are the “digitalization” of all transactions at the DOTr and its attached agencies involved in all public utility vehicles (PUVs) in land, air and sea in the Philippines; introduction of cashless transactions; live-streaming through Facebook and the internet all public biddings; removal of the so-called “mobilization fee,” or 15% down-payment that contractors were required in the past to pay, among other measures.

Giving more meaning to its transformation, Tugade moved over the head office of the DOTr from Columbia Tower in Mandaluyong to Clark Freeport in Mabalacat, Pampanga in July, 2017. Tugade found himself named in a suit filed by disgruntled employees’ union of the DOTC who tried but lost their appeals for the lower court intervention to stop their physical transfer of office to Pampanga. But now, the DOTr employees enjoy a four-day work week schedule and free shuttle services. Others opted transfer or detailed to other DOTr agency while there were those who chose to live in Clark.

Actually, the Clark Freeport Zone is one of the areas being considered to become the center of all government offices and state agencies of the Philippines. So far, it is only the DOTr that has taken the bold initiatives to do so under the leadership of Tugade. He is no stranger to this place because he once served as president and chief executive officer of Clark Development Corp. (CDC) from December 2012 to April 2016.

Incidentally, Tugade announced during the same Kapihan sa Manila Bay Webinar that despite the COVID-19 pandemic, the construction of the new Clark Airport Terminal Passenger-2 will be completed on time and will, in fact, be ready for commercial operations by January next year.

In a brief video presentation, Tugade updated us on the status of the other “mega” projects under its Build, Build, Build infrastructure program, the bulk of which are being undertaken by the DOTr and its agencies. According to Tugade, he keeps a close tab of the status of these projects which the public can access and check through the DOTr official website.

These projects have timelines following the DOTr countdown to the very end of the Duterte administration. As of that day (Nov.3), the DOTr countdown showed 604 calendar days “to fulfill the promise of a comfortable life to Filipinos.”

Tugade admitted the lockdowns earlier this year related to the government’s campaign to stop the spread of the 2019 coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic in the Philippines have caused considerable delays in these projects. And lately, several of these on-going projects of the DOTr sustained damages in the provinces hit by typhoons “Quinta” and “Rolly,” he rued. Despite these challenges, Tugade reassured the public that the DOTr is exerting its best efforts to return on track “within the timelines and within the costs” set.

The DOTr implements these projects under its “Oplan: A.I.R.” which stood for: A – Add more routes, franchises, PUVs; I – increase public transport speed and capacity; R – reduced passenger waiting time and travel time.Taking cue from the renewed anti-graft drive of President Duterte, Tugade cited, he added more “Rs” to the “Oplan A.I.R.” to stand for “Remove red tape, Remove corruption.”

From doubt and distrust of the past, Tugade continues to his tasks of reinventing the DOTr to better serve the public interests.