The highly controversial P4.5-billion Tacloban Causeway Project, which was touted as a game-changing link between Tacloban City Hall and DZR Airport, is now sputtering to a halt after formal charges were filed before the Ombudsman against contractor and resigned Ako Bicol Partylist Representative Zaldy Co.
And with that single move, the project’s fate has shifted from delayed to effectively dead on arrival under its current contractor.
According to an exclusive interview by Eastern Visayas Media Without Borders, Co will no longer be allowed to continue or claim involvement in the project following the complaint.
The government is now preparing to terminate the contract and rush the project into a full rebidding.
A drastic reset aimed at salvaging what has long been billed as a flagship infrastructure priority for Eastern Visayas.
However, for a stalled mega-project, the government claims to be emerging from this debacle relatively unscathed.
With "only" P1 billion of the P4.5-billion budget has been released since work began, and the source confirmed that Zaldy Co cannot claim reimbursement for whatever expenses he already incurred.
The anonymous source noted that Co absorbs the loss, not the government.
However, the public is still in an outcry, pointing out that whether a million or a billion, it is still the people's money.
"One billion lang? Lang? Kahit pa PHP 100 lang yan, pera pa rin namin yan mga walang hiya tapos ganun lang?" a netizen posted on Facebook.
A project too big to fail
The causeway, initially intended to streamline airport access, reduce congestion, and provide a flood-resilient arterial route, is not merely another local road project.
It is allegedly central to Tacloban’s long-term urban and economic planning.
Every month of delay hobbles mobility, tourism, and investment momentum in a city still rebuilding its resilience more than a decade after Yolanda.
This is why the government now faces a high-pressure balancing act: terminate swiftly, rebid cleanly, and ensure the next contractor can move with competence and integrity.
Critics had long suspected that something was amiss.
Progress had slowed to a crawl, updates became vague, on-ground activity dropped.
The charges have not only exposed alleged wrongdoing but have also underscored systemic vulnerabilities in how large contracts are awarded, monitored, and protected from political entanglement.
Reset or another cycle?
The government says the project will undergo rebidding “at the earliest possible time.”
But this is where skepticism begins to stir.
Rebidding is often framed as a cleanup mechanism, yet critics warn it can easily become a revolving door for the same powerful players, just under different corporate shells.
Whether the process will be genuinely competitive, transparent, and insulated from political pressure remains to be seen.
Still, the source insisted the rebidding will be tightly controlled and expedited, with an eye toward ensuring the project does not sit idle for long.
Residents, long weary of delays, are unsurprised but visibly impatient.
The prospect of rebidding, no matter how necessary, signals yet another stretch of bureaucratic limbo.
Yet the revelation that the government retains most of the budget, and that the contractor cannot demand repayment, has softened public anger.
“It’s frustrating, but at least the money’s still there (or what remains of it),” one local business owner said.
“What we need now is a contractor who can actually deliver.”
The road ahead
The Tacloban Causeway now enters its most critical phase, not in engineering, but in governance.
Its completion will hinge not only on technical competence but on whether the government can enforce accountability, resist political interference, and choose a contractor based on merit rather than influence.
The coming weeks will determine whether this project becomes a symbol of reform and recovery or yet another case study in the country’s long history of grand promises undone by scandal.
More updates are expected to follow as official statements and termination proceedings unfold.
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