In Guimaras, bridge transforms lives, transportation

Since childhood, Dominga Depedro has been crossing a wooden bridge from her place in Buenavista town in Guimaras to the neighboring village in San Lorenzo town.

The Mantasic Bridge could only handle one vehicle at a time and had to be repaired regularly. During its dilapidated state, vehicles as a precautionary measure would unload their passengers who must then walk to get to the other side.

This is no longer the case.

Since November last year, Depedro and at least 5,800 residents of Barangays East Valencia and San Enrique have been using a two-lane modular steel bridge built by the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH).

“It is more convenient and safe for us now,” said Depedro, 53, who sells ready-to-wear clothes in East Valencia.

P-Noy program

The Mantasic Bridge is one of the four newly built bridges in Guimaras and 22 others in the Visayas under President Aquino’s Bridge Program and Mega Bridges for Urban and Rural Development Project, according to Elmer Bacus, manager of the DPWH in the Visayas.

The project is funded by the national government through a loan from the French government. Bacus, however, doesn’t know the entire amount of the loan because it is a national project.

Under the loan agreement, France will supply the steel modules through the French firm Matiere and shoulder the project’s labor cost. The Philippines will provide the equipment and infrastructure base of the bridges.

The other new steel bridges in Guimaras are the Bugnay Bridge, which connects Jordan and San Lorenzo towns; the Nagay Bridge, which links San Lorenzo and Sibunag towns; and the Igcawayan Bridge in San Lorenzo. These replaced the wooden bridges that were built mostly in the 1970s along the national highway.

Safety issue

All four bridges, costing about P32 million each, are 28.8 meters long and have antiskid coating and pedestrian sidewalks. According to Bacus, these have a load capacity of 20 tons compared to the 3-ton limit of the wooden bridges, and will last 50 to 100 years.

For villagers near the Igcawayan Bridge in San Lorenzo, the new structure also means safety for their children.

“We had forbidden our children to cross the wooden bridge when the river rises. There’s no need for that anymore,” said

Violeta Salcedo, 58.

Gov. Felipe Nava agreed that the new bridges would provide more convenient and safer access for residents and tourists on the island. “They are stable with more load capacity and we will not worry anymore about regular maintenance checkup and repairs,” he said.

The wooden bridges had to be closed for two weeks each year for inspection and maintenance work, he said.

Guimaras has only one remaining wooden bridge in Barangay San Isidro in Sibunag. Nava hoped that the DPWH would also move to replace it.