EDITORIAL — Here comes the repair

Visiting the flood-hit areas of Pampanga, Tarlac and Zambales yesterday, President Marcos ordered the speedy rehabilitation of two bridges that collapsed one after the other last weekend in Tarlac.

A Bailey bridge is being rushed to allow light vehicles to use one of the bridges, whose collapse cut off Tarlac City from direct access, forcing motorists to take a detour of up to two hours through Gerona to reach the provincial capital.

While rushing the rehabilitation of the Agana and Aquino bridges, President Marcos must stress to the Department of Public Works and Highways the importance of ensuring the durability of the repair work. The DPWH should also determine if contractors can be held liable for the accidents.

The 25-year-old Aquino Bridge was widened and retrofitted only three years ago, but its central section collapsed in the strong currents of the Tarlac River on Aug. 28.

The older Agana Bridge, which served as the alternative for the Aquino Bridge, sustained similar damage on the night of Aug. 29, causing an SUV to plunge into the river. The bodies of two of the four missing passengers have been found separately downstream in Pangasinan.

Officials including the President have blamed the heavy rainfall for the catastrophic flooding that washed away the two bridges and persisted along parts of the North Luzon Expressway yesterday, slowing traffic.

But the country has been experiencing extreme weather for many years now, and powerful currents in the Tarlac River are not new during the typhoon season. Shouldn’t the DPWH and the contractor of the bridge retrofitting have factored in such risks?

The Sta. Maria-Cabagan Bridge in Isabela province collapsed on Feb. 27 last year, less than a month after it was opened to the public. This bridge was built and retrofitted at a cost of P1.2 billion. The nation still awaits the results of a supposed probe into the reason for the waste of that huge amount of public funds.

All the collapsed bridges are made of concrete and steel and should be sturdy, designed to withstand the weight of trucks and the heavy rainfall and floods that regularly hit the country.

President Marcos must make sure that the repair of the collapsed bridges won’t be another waste of precious public funds, and won’t be seen as opportunities for kickbacks. Holding accountable those behind previous bridge disasters can compel the delivery of quality services.