FINISHED YET IDLED | The San Jose Panlumacan Bridge (right) in Barangay San Jose in the City of San Fernando, Pampanga, remains unused despite its completion in April 2016 because two houses are still standing in its path, in this photo taken on Aug. 30, 2022. As a result, vehicles and pedestrians continue to use an older, narrower steel bridge (left) that is already deemed risky. (File photo by TONETTE OREJAS / Inquirer Central Luzon)
CITY OF SAN FERNANDO, Pampanga, Philippines — The owners of two properties obstructing a P25-million bridge in this Pampanga capital have agreed to settle the dispute that stemmed from their rejection of the appraisal made by a government bank, increasing the chances of the structure’s opening to traffic, an official said on Tuesday.
The interventions of Mayor Vilma Caluag and several groups have reopened talks to finally put to use the idle San Jose Panlumacan Bridge over the San Fernando River in Barangay San Jose, according to Isabelita Manalo, a project manager of the Department of Public Works and Highways’ (DPWH) Unified Project Management Office-Flood Control Management Cluster.
Spanning 27 meters, the bridge was designed as an alternate route to the southern and western villages of San Fernando and nearby Mexico town.
It has been unused for six years as the Simeon and Flores families sought higher compensation than the value set by the Land Bank of the Philippines at P5,000 per square meter. The right-of-way (ROW) issues forced students of the University of the Assumption (UA) and motorists to pass instead through an old steel bridge just beside the new and unused structure.
Temporary shelter
Caluag said the city government committed to giving a house and materials for temporary shelter to the Simeon family through a socialized housing program.
She said she initiated talks to “ensure the safety of students and motorists, and to ease traffic.”
San Jose village chief Mercy Macabali said the city council would lend tools and equipment for the demolition of the structures.
Macabali did not give details about the terms discussed with Ruperto Flores, who runs a funeral parlor on the project’s ROW.
Continuing its efforts since 2018 to open the bridge, the board of trustees of UA has approved giving financial aid to the Simeon family. Fr. Joselito Henson, the school president, did not disclose the amount.
In a separate interview, Manalo said all the help the Simeon and Flores families would be getting from various parties would not be deducted from the amounts offered by the DPWH in two expropriation cases that are pending in separate courts here.
She said the lawyers of property owners would need to file a motion for an out-of-court settlement that would hopefully lead to a compromise agreement.
Manalo said the families would not get their demands of taking more than P2 million for Flores’ 45-square-meter lot and P2 million for Simeon’s 119 sq m property.
Adhering to Department Order No. 37 which clarified the handling of ROW cases, Manalo said the DPWH was “not flexible” in the amounts it offered, which were below P700,000 in each case.
Manalo and Caluag have yet to set a date for the bridge’s opening.
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