Trucks carrying gravel and sand cause Pampanga bridge to sag

APALIT, Pampanga, Philippines – A 40-year-old bridge linking this town to Macabebe sagged after three trucks carrying gravel and sand passed through it yesterday morning, authorities said.

Acting municipal administrator Dennis Capulong said no one was hurt but the truck drivers and their companions had to be assisted as two of the trucks fell on their side and the third leaned on the side of the bridge in Barangay Colgante.

Capulong said police could not yet determine whether the trucks, loaded with gravel and sand bound for Macabebe, were overloaded.

“Appropriate charges will be filed if it could be proven the trucks were overloaded,” he said.

Superintendent Angelito Esteban, Apalit police chief, said the trucks were part of a convoy of four headed toward Macabebe. The first truck managed to pass through the bridge, but the other trucks were caught in the middle of the 15-meter bridge, which sagged due to their weight.

Capulong said the bridge has become impassable to all types of vehicles and that local folk traveling between Apalit and Macabebe were advised to take another route via Barangay Sulipan.

He, however, said the route via Sulipan is good only for light vehicles.

He said Mayor Jun Tetangco has asked the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) to immediately repair the bridge, the major link between his town and Macabebe.

DPWH Undersecretary for Regional Operations Romeo Momo said they would investigate the bridge’s collapse.

“There is a specified load limit and they should have followed it. If it would be proven that the Colgante Bridge was damaged because of overloading and these drivers are responsible for it, there is that possibility that the drivers or their companies might be ordered to shoulder the expense for the repair of the bridge,” Momo said. – With Ric Sapnu and Evelyn Macairan