PCIJ: Tugade didn’t declare offshore firm; DOTr chief says it's in his SALN

Transportation Secretary Arthur Tugade is allegedly keeping an offshore firm while occupying government positions but this is not declared in his Statements of Assets, Liabilities, and Net Worth (SALN), according to a report by the Philippine Center for Investigative Journalism (PCIJ).

The report, in collaboration with Rappler and the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ), took an in-depth analysis of the so-called “Pandora Papers” —a trove of documents leaked to the ICIJ and shared to the PCIJ and Rappler.

In its report, the PCIJ said the leaked documents revealed that Tugade has been a director of British Virgin Islands-based firm Solart Holdings Limited since 2007.

The report said that Tugade has not declared Solart Holdings as a business interest in any of his SALNs filed since becoming a public official in 2012.

The Transportation chief, according to PCIJ “has disclosed ‘offshore investments’ worth P57 million as assets every year since 2012, but no details about these investments have been declared, except these were acquired in 2003.”

“Tugade has not declared Solart Holdings Limited as a business interest in any of the Statements of Assets, Liabilities, and Net Worth (SALN) he has filed since becoming a public official,” the PCIJ said.

The PCIJ said it sent an interview request to Tugade, but neither he nor his staff responded to questions.

In an official statement, Tugade acknowledged that “due to an administrative oversight, I was not made aware of the interview request letter sent by the Philippine Center for Investigative Journalism (PCIJ).”

“Had it reached my personal attention, I would have acted on the same swiftly,” he said.

The Transportation chief also confirmed that Solart Holdings “was a personal financial move that was established long before I joined the government.”

“Solart Holdings was organized in 2003 to hold a portion of our family’s cash assets,” Tugade said.

In the PCIJ’s report, “Solart” appears to be a combination of the names of Tugade and his wife, Maria Soledad.

Meanwhile, his three children, Jose Arturo, Paul Louie, and Finina Marie, sit as co-directors of the offshore firm in question.

“Having some of our family’s savings invested in Solart Holdings was our legitimate attempt to grow our financial portfolio like what any astute and judicious entrepreneurs would do to diversify their investments. We decided to have a portion of our savings invested outside the Philippines, which is valid and legal,” Tugade said.

He also said that Solart Holdings “has consistently been disclosed in my Sworn Statement of Assets, Liabilities, and Networth (SALN) under ‘Personal Properties - Intangible,’ particularly as ‘Offshore Investments’ from 2012 to 2020.”

“In the said period, the account barely moved,” he said.

“As an appointed public servant, I have taken an oath to uphold transparency, honesty, integrity, and good governance. These are cherished values that I personally believe in, and I have made it a lifelong commitment to sustain and carry around myself,” he said.

According to PCIJ, “Arthur P. Tugade” appears in Trident Trust Group records as the beneficial owner of Solart Holdings Limited.

It said that Trident Trust, one of the 14 offshore service providers in the Pandora Papers, is the registered agent of Solart Holdings.

Citing a Trident Trust document, the PCIJ said Tugade and his children stated that Solart was expected to have assets worth $1.5 million or around P75 million in the form of cash, bonds, and securities from the business income of private corporations under the “Perry’s Group of Companies” —named in honor of Tugade’s late sone Mark Perry.

“We stand with the amount stated in the SALN of Secretary Tugade, which is way lower than the amount stated in the PCIJ-Rappler report,” Transportation Assistant Secretary Goddess Hope Libiran told reporters in a Viber group message.

In an open letter, Libiran said Solart Holdings was organized in 2003 to hold a portion of Tugade family’s cash assets, which had hardly moved since then.

“Having some of their family’s savings invested in Solart Holdings was their legitimate attempt to grow their financial portfolio like what any astute and judicious entrepreneurs would do to diversify their investments. Hence, they decided to have a portion of their savings invested outside the Philippines, which is valid and legal,” Libiran echoing the statement of Tugade.

“When Sec. Tugade was appointed as President of the Clark Development Corporation (CDC) in 2012, and as Secretary of the Department of Transportation (DOTr) in 2016, the investment in Solart Holdings had always been disclosed in his Sworn Statement of Assets, Liabilities and Networth (SALN) under ‘Personal Properties - Intangible,’ particularly, as ‘Offshore Investments’ from 2012 to 2020,” she added.

Libiran said that this consistently transparent declaration made by the Transportation chief in his sworn SALNs is “clear proof of his honesty and integrity, which he has pledged and committed to uphold while in government.”

“In this regard, we take strong exception and will not take lightly this apparently well-oiled and orchestrated effort to malign and discredit the good image and reputation of Secretary Tugade and his family… The imputations are clearly intended to besmirch the character of Secretary Tugade, and by extension, the Duterte Administration,” she said.

“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,” she said.

“We pray that whoever or whatever entity is behind this black propaganda, is not doing this because Secretary Art Tugade is now perceived as a legitimate threat, and a stumbling block to their political aspirations,” she added.—AOL, GMA News