About fifty years ago, government announced to the whole world that the San Juanico Bridge is a symbol of love between two high profile persons of the country. Its shape was supposed to be a combination of S and L to signify the union of Samar and Leyte Islands. It was a sight to behold, announced as the longest bridge (2.16 kilometers) of the country and widely advertised as a tourist attraction and an engineering marvel.
Not anymore. It is no longer the longest bridge of the country and our very own Vice-President thinks that it is not even a tourist attraction like the ten kilometer long bridges in China.. It may not even be an engineering marvel because it is very expensive to repair and difficult to detect (supposedly) as in need of repair.
A few years ago, colorful lights were installed to increase its appeal. It was a sight to behold. But no longer. The lights are gone. Traffic is controlled and limited to vehicles not exceeding three tons or three thousand kilos in weight.
A few days agio, the Department of Public Works and Highways announced that the bridge repair will be completed by December 2025 (note that we are already in the middle of July) at a cost of 850 million pesos (that is 850 million divided by 5 months to December or 170 million pesos a month or 5.6 million pesos a day).
DPWH also announced that it is increasing the previously announced weight limit of 12 tons to 15 tons.
Coincidentally, I mentioned in this column a couple of weeks ago that the announced limit of 12 tons that will be in effect in December this year will only be good for buses without passengers. It is a pleasant surprise that this has been increased to 15 tons. Now this limit wil allow tourist buses with passengers.
I got information that up top now, the repair work has not started. We are already in the third month of virtual closure. The news accounts confirmed this delay in the start of the repair work with the statement that the 850 million pesos funding from the national government will be released once the plans and programs of work are ready.
At this point, the public will be asking questions about the way the repair will be implemented. Will there be a public bidding or will this be some kind of an emergency purchase without bidding? Will the procedure in the Procurement Law be followed?
This is important because there has been a precedent: the previous repair done in 1994 at a cost of 80 million pesos which now comes to three hundred fifty million pesos in 2025. The need to make the award of the contract transparent will allay suspicions that what happended in 1994 will be repeated.
There are other aspects of the remedial measures we ought to know. For example, the owners of trucks which have to use the Tacloban to Basey ferries have to pay 3,000 pesos per truck. DPWH repprts a daily traffic of 1,400 vehicles. If half of these are trucks, the ferries are making a killing especially since they are operating at full capacity. Do the math.
If half of this traffic are trucks, that will be 700 vehices. At 3,000 pesos per truck, the resulting collection of charges will be 2.1 million pesos per day or 63 million pesos per month or 756 million pesos per year. You can divide this into 4, the number of ferries, then you will appreciate the resulting huge profits.
If the trucks take the Ormoc to Calbayog ferry, the charge is a very expensive 12,000 pesos per truck.
Also in Tacloban or Basey, it takes a day to line up and be accommodated in the ferries (there are four of them). These vessels have to wait for the high tide to be able to cross. Thus, the waiting time can go up to two days.
In what was supposed to be a dream come true, the bridge now represents a virtual nightmare. Its closure to heavy vehicles has made the transport of goods more expensive and tourist travel very much delayed, uncomfortable and with added costs.
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