Arthur Tugade
Tugade in 2018
Secretary of Transportation
Incumbent
Assumed office June 30, 2016
President	Rodrigo Duterte
Preceded by	Joseph Emilio Abaya
President and CEO of Clark Development Corporation
In office December 18, 2012 – April 26, 2016
President	Benigno Aquino III
Preceded by	Felipe Antonio Remollo
Succeeded by	Eliseo B. Santiago (OIC)
Personal details
Born	Arthur Planta Tugade January 9, 1946 (age 75) Claveria, Cagayan, Philippines
Nationality	Filipino
Political party	PDP–Laban
Spouse(s)	Maria Soledad Maddela Tugade
Alma mater	San Beda College
Occupation	Businessman
Profession	Lawyer

Arthur “Art” Planta Tugade (born January 9, 1946)^[1] is a Filipino businessman and lawyer from Cagayan. He is the current Secretary of the Department of Transportation after being appointed by President Rodrigo Duterte to replace Joseph Emilio Abaya.^[2] He previously held the position of President and chief executive officer of Clark Development Corporation, an attached agency of the government-owned Bases Conversion and Development Authority under President Benigno Aquino III.^[2][3]

Tugade was born on January 9, 1946 to poor parents from Claveria, Cagayan, Francisco Tugade and Lucefina Planta.^[3] His parents were both employed at the Public Works Department and he was in elementary school when they moved to Sampaloc, Manila.

Tugade attended law school at the San Beda College of Law, where he was classmates with President Rodrigo Duterte. He graduated magna cum laude in 1971. He completed his post-graduate studies at the National University of Singapore under the NUS-Stanford Executive Program in 1985.^[4]

Career and businesses

Tugade engaged in private law practice before joining government service. He was a partner at Bengzon, Verano, Tugade and Escolin Law Office. He also pursued a career in global logistics, information technology, tourism and consumer products business serving as chairman and president of several firms, including Transnational Diversified Group, Yusen Air and Sea Services, TDG Asia Corporation, Harmony Organic Farms, and Easycall Communications.^[5]

Tugade founded Perry’s Realty, named after his son who died from an asthma attack at age 12. The company grew to become Perry’s Holding Corporation which employs more than 350 employees in 10 corporations of the Perry’s Group of Companies which include Transglobal Equipment Leasing, Perry’s Technology, ATP Travel, Perryome, Transglobal Trucking and Transglobal Consolidators, Inc.^[4][5]

Controversies

The International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ) through its Philippine co-partnered media group, the Philippine Center for Investigative Journalism (PCIJ) and Rappler released details of offshore companys listed under Tugade’s Solart Holdings Limited, a British Virgin Islands-based firm since 2007 as part its investigation into the Pandora Papers. Solart Holdings was incorporated by the Trident Trust Group, the global financial services provider that listed Tugade and along with his three children as the beneficial owners. The documents details that Solart had assets worth USD1.5 million (PHP75 million) in the form of cash, bonds, and securities received as income from the business entities under the Perry’s Group of Companies named after Tugade’s late son, Mark Perry. The said company was not listed under his annual Statement of Assets, Liabilities and Net worth (SALN) as required under Philippine anti-corruption legislation.^[6]

Tugade’s Response

Tugade said he has been transparent on his financial standing, saying the offshore investment organized by his family in 2003 has been disclosed in his 2012 to 2020 SALNs under “Personal Properties – Intangible”, particularly, as “Offshore Investments.”

“In the said period, the account barely moved,” he said in a statement on Tuesday. “Wala po akong tinatago, at sasagutin ko ang anumang paratang at katanungan [I am not hiding anything and I’m ready to answer allegations] in appropriate forums and manner.”

The Department of Transportation, meanwhile, issued a warning that a legal team will track down the source of what they referred to as a “malicious” and “well-oiled” report. It said the allegations against the secretary reek of black propaganda for the upcoming elections, where Tugade is seen to run for senator.

“The imputation are clearly intended to besmirch the character of Secretary Tugade, and by extension, the Duterte administration. Consider this as a stern warning and an assertion that our lawyers will exert all necessary effort, to the fullest extent of the law, to find those behind the malicious and irresponsible publication of this report,” it said.

Tugade is one of the more than 900 Philippine-based individuals in the Pandora Papers, a collection of more than 11.9 million files leaked from 14 offshore finance providers.https://www.cnnphilippines.com/news/2021/10/5/Panama-Papers-Transportation-Arthur-Tugade-offshore-company-investment-SALN.html