ANGELES CITY—The Pinoy Gumising Ka Movement (PGKM) will not oppose the confirmation of Transportation Secretary Arthur P. Tugade by the Commission on Appointments (CA).
This was the statement made by Ruperto Cruz, chairman of the PGKM, in an interview here on Tuesday.
“Tugade is a very powerful man now. I’m sure he is going to use his influence to fight off opposition for his confirmation the CA,” Cruz said.
“That is why the PGKM will not oppose his confirmation anymore. We will just wait for him to self-destruct, because that is more painful than opposing his confirmation,” he explained.
Cruz added that Tugade will not be able to solve the traffic problem in Manila. “In fact, he has no clear solution when he was in the Senate, that is why the senators refused to grant him emergency powers,” he said.
“Ing kinwa nang obra keng traffic king Manila, ken ya masira [The job he imposed on himself to solve the traffic in Manila, that’s where he is going to fail],” Cruz pointed out.
“Mesira ya y P-Noy [former President Benigno S. Aquino III] kang Secretary [Joseph Emilio A.] Abaya. Y President Duterte siran neng Tugade [P-Noy was ruined by Secretary Abaya. President Duterte is going to be destroyed by Tugade],” he said.
Cruz added that Tugade’s track record at the Clark Development Corp. speaks for itself.
Under Tugade, Clark made several questionable deals that are disadvantageous to the government, like the Filinvest-Mimosa deal; and others detrimental to the full and immediate development of the Clark airport, like the Capilion Corp. Pte. Ltd. project at the Clark main gate; and the Honda Cars Philippines dealership and service center in the same area, which will constrict the road leading to the airport; not to mention confidentiality clauses in the lease agreement contracts entered by Clark locators and the Clark Development Corp., Cruz said.
“Now he wants emergency powers to solve the traffic problem in Manila?” he asked. “We don’t see any hope with the confirmation of Tugade,” he said.
As to the Clark airport, Tugade is not doing anything, Cruz added.
In President Duterte’s State of the Nation Address, he clearly said that some, if not all, domestic flights can be transferred to Clark, Cruz pointed out.
But up to now there is nothing, Cruz said.
“What they are proposing is another third runaway when our runways are underused. What we really need is a bigger passenger terminal building to accommodate the airline passengers from diverted flights and those that will use it in the future,” Cruz explained.
“As it is, diverted airlines always blame the Clark terminal, which they say is not enough to accommodate their passengers and prevent them from disembarking sometimes for hours, to the consternation of passengers,” he said.
“The terminal should be prioritized. At the moment, there is no activity from 12 noon to 6 p.m.,” he lamented.
“There is money left by the previous administration [P3 billion to P15 billion] so that they can start the expansion of the passenger terminal [there is already a plan laid out for that] so that in three to six months we can see something concrete,” Cruz said.
“But, sadly, they are still in the planning stage again,” he added.
Instead, Cruz described the proposals to make a third runway in the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (Naia) and then to put up a railway from Clark to Manila as reasons to delay the development of the Clark airport.
“We cannot wait for the railway because it will take us years,” he said. The Clark-to-Manila railway will primarily serve the interests of big hotels and casinos in Manila, he added. “What we need right now is an expanded passenger terminal building that can accommodate additional passengers who can disembark from the airplanes and relax in our airport lounge,” Cruz said.
“We have been pushing for a bigger passenger terminal building since time immemorial,” he added.
“But if Tugade could immediately divert flights from the Naia to Clark instantly, we can see a reduction of about 15 percent of vehicular traffic in Manila,” he said.
Cruz explained that the government can spend so much for the flyover to the Naia, but it is only good in the general area. “The reality is we cannot expand the road infrastructure in Manila that are already choked with vehicles. It has reached its peak,” he said.