THE GOVERNMENT will construct a new bridge in Isabela province, following the collapse of Cabagan-Sta. Maria Bridge, President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. vowed on Thursday.
Marcos made the commitment after inspecting the collapsed bridge, saying the old design was “poor” and “really weak.”
In a media interview after the inspection, Marcos said the original budget for the construction of the bridge was PHP900 million but rose to PHP1.2 billion because of retrofitting.
“Ang puno’t dulo nito (The bottomline is) design flaw. It is a design flaw. Mali ang design. Ang history kasi nito, dapat ang funding nito was supposed to be ang project cost nito is PHP1.8 billion. So, binawasan under PHP1 billion para makamura. Ayan, inayos ngayon, ginawa ngayon ‘yung detail design. (The design is wrong. Because of its history, its funding was supposed to be its project cost was PHP1.8 billion. So, it was reduced under PHP1 billion to make it cheaper. There, it was fixed now, the detail design was done now). Design is basically really weak,” he said.
“We have no choice. We have to go back. So, nung nagtitipid tayo, tinipid natin sa PHP1.8 billion, useless. Ngayon, babalik na naman tayo. Gagastos na naman tayo. Papalitan na naman natin. Parang nagtayo na naman tayo ng bago (So, when we were saving, we want to save the PHP1.8 billion. It’s useless. Now, we're going back again. We're going to spend again. We're going to replace it again. It's like we will build something new again),” Marcos added.
Asked who would be held accountable for the collapse of the bridge, Marcos said he would focus first on fixing the problem.
“You know, I always have the saying: Fix the problem, not the blame. Ayusin muna natin ‘yung problema (Let’s fix the problem first). Believe me, you’ll find out who is responsible. Who is responsible is basically who made the design because the design is poor. And then also, those trucks should never have been on the bridge,” he said.
The bridge, spanning 990 meters and consisting of 12 arches and nine spans of pre-stressed concrete girders, was designed for light vehicles only and is a vital route linking Cabagan and Santa Maria to Enrile, Cagayan and Tabuk City, Kalinga.
The construction of the bridge commenced in November 2014 and was completed on Feb. 1, 2025 with a total cost of PHP1.22 billion, including the bridge and approaches.
The contractor of the bridge was R.D. Interior, Jr. Construction.
Marcos said the contractor followed the plan and the construction work was done according to the book, up to the specification.
He, however, said there is a design problem because the specification was wrong.
“Ito lang ang suspension bridge na nakita ko sa buong mundo na hindi kable at iyan na mismo ang bumigay. Bumigay ang bakal. Kung kable iyan, hindi dapat bumigay iyan. Tapos yung pag-anchor ng support, tignan niyo, doon lang sa baba. Dapat sa taas iyan., hanggang sa taas (This is the only suspension bridge I've seen in the whole world that isn't cable-stayed and it collapsed. The steel collapsed. If it's cable-stayed, it would not have happened. Then the anchoring of the support, look, it's just at the bottom. It should be at the top, all the way up)," Marcos said. (Ruth Abbey Gita-Carlos)
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