He led Iloilo Province to several national awards, especially in the anti-illegal gambling against jueteng campaign, stopping illegal fishing, and the clean and green program.

Tupas was charged for graft and corruption before the Ombudsman for granting a quarry permit to an unqualified contractor who was said to have partnered with a mining company owned by the in-laws of his son Raul.

[citation needed] In September 2015, two months before his death, Tupas Sr., together with three local government officials, was charged of graft by the Sandiganbayan on the case of anomalous payments to Green Core Geothermal, Inc.

This involved 4 million Philippine pesos' worth of unconsumed electricity by the Iloilo provincial government from 2009-2010, under his term as the province governor.

[5] Tupas Sr. died due to multiple organ failure brought about by prostate cancer while he confined at the Philippine Heart Center in Quezon City on the early morning of November 24, 2015 at the age of 82, just 3 days before his 83rd Birthday.