DPWH: Mandaue-Mactan Bridge safe

CEBU, Philippines - The Mandaue-Mactan Bridge is safe, according to assistant regional Director of Department of Public Works and Highways Edgar Tabacon yesterday.

“Dili kuyaw sa publiko ang unang Mandaue Bridge,” he said. But he also added there are plans to conduct more inspections of the bridge.

He also said he recommended the local government vacate the people living under the bridge if it is eventually discovered that the bridge is unsafe.

He also said they will hire a diver to see the cracks of the foundation of the 40 years old bridge.

Mandaue City Mayor Jonas Cortes said they already made their own plans already to inspect the bridge.

With regards to the people living under the bridge they said they will wait for the announcement if they have to vacate the place.

The issue was brought to attention of the public after Vice Governor Gregorio Sanchez said the foundation of the Mandaue-Mactan Bridge is already unsafe and would collapse in a Magnitude 3 earthquake.

Responding to what he said was a constant feed of information from the concerned individuals, including a Japanese contractor who lost bidding for the bridge’s repair five years ago, Sanchez took members of the Cebu media for an inspection of the bridge’s columns, last June 12, 2010.

Two men, Ramil Cuyos and Joseph Barossa of Barangay Calero, Mandaue City, dived down to make the inspection and reported that they saw cracks in the bridge’s pile 7 and pile 9.

The two estimated the crack in Pile 7 to be one meter long and two and a half centimeters wide. The crack in Pile 9, according to them, was longer, although thinner.

Sanchez insisted that the DPWH design section must check the structural stability of the bridge and must give assurance that the bridge is safe. Otherwise, he said, the bridge must be repaired immediately. — THE FREEMAN