Townsfolk cry SOS for bridge, get greetings

SAN PEDRO CITY—Residents of San Fernando in Romblon province fear for their safety after one of the major bridges linking their town to the rest of the province collapsed days before Christmas.

But after reporting it to the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH), all they got were a little apology and a holiday greeting, a civil society group said.

At least half of the approximately 25-meter-long Punong Bridge in Barangay España collapsed on Dec. 20. A tricycle fell off, but residents rescued the driver, according to Rodne Galicha, organizer of the group Bayay Sibuyanon.

On Dec. 21, Galicha, also a district manager of global Climate Reality Leadership Corps, sent an e-mail to the DPWH through the department’s Stakeholders Relations Service (SRS).

Relationship conduit

The SRS, according to the DPWH website, “manages social marketing and mobilization programs to strengthen the relationship with external stakeholders, specifically nongovernment organizations and civil society organizations.”

Elizabeth Pilorin, DPWH SRS director 4, replied two days later with an e-mail, saying the department was “sorry for what happened to the bridge.”

“Have a blessed Christmas. God bless!” the e-mail added.

It was not the first time that residents of San Fernando, a small town on Sibuyan Island, requested for repairs to Punong Bridge and another bridge, the Olango.

Both are bailey-type bridges built in the 1960s to connect communities of the village of España.

Punong Bridge provided the shortest route to the only port on the island in Magdiwang town.

Dec. 13 warning

Before the bridge collapsed, Galicha, in a Dec. 13 e-mail to DPWH officials, warned of an accident waiting to happen as Typhoon “Ruby” caused a part of the bridge’s approach to erode.

He also furnished Public Works Secretary Rogelio Singson a copy of residents’ letters and offered, on behalf of his group, “to contribute any amount and deposit it to the national treasury through the DPWH, on top of our taxes, to urgently implement the project (repair).”

“The rehabilitation [of the bridges] is like 10 to 15 years overdue,” San Fernando Mayor Dindo Rios said in a separate phone interview.

He, however, could also not give any answer when asked why the repair has not started.

No leverage

“We have a small number of voters. We don’t have the political leverage, unlike Laguna or Cavite provinces, to get [projects] done here fast,” the mayor said.

In May, the Regional Project Monitoring Committee of Mimaropa (Mindoro, Marinduque, Romblon, Palawan) Development Council inspected the infrastructure and made “urgent recommendations” to the DPWH.

Galicha, who sits as a member of the regional development council, said the rehabilitation of Olango Bridge was supposed to be funded by aid from the Spanish government while that of Punong Bridge by an Austrian grant.