Bridges program benefits rural folk – governors

MANILA, Philippines - Local officials, including governors, yesterday said the President’s Bridges Program (PBP), which builds modular steel bridges, clearly benefits people in the countryside.

The officials urged critics of the program, including Sen. Sergio Osmeña III, to visit some steel bridges in rural areas to see for themselves the structures’ “clear and tangible socio-economic benefits.”

Osmeña has criticized Rep. Teodorico Haresco of the party-list group Ang Kasangga for supposedly being the “brains” behind the bridge construction project.

“It’s easy to accuse a big ticket program of being fraudulent, especially if you only rely on statistics and a few pictures,” Aklan Gov. Carlito Marquez said.

“But in reality, the lives of people in the countryside have truly improved,” he said.

He cited the 200 meter-long Madalag Bridge that was opened recently.

“With this bridge, access from Banga and Madalag towns to the capital is just 30 minutes, whereas before it would take two hours. The social benefit is obvious. Both teachers and schoolchildren travel much shorter distances; the same goes for those who work in Kalibo,” Marquez added.

He said rural bridges in Aklan have opened access to idle lands, which people have started using for crop production.

Gov. Felipe Nava of the island province of Guimaras said that despite the number of modular bridges already built, there is still “an urgent need for bridges throughout countryside.”

“In Guimaras, the Tulay ng Pangulo program has provided three bridges, which are key elements in completing a road network that will link all the municipalities,” he said.

Nava said connecting these areas could spur the growth of the island’s primary commercial crop, mangoes.

He pointed out that mango growers would not be able to transport their produce if towns separated by rivers could not be linked by roads and bridges.

Echoing his colleagues’ concerns, Capiz Gov. Victor Tanco said: “Slowing down the bridge program in the countryside is tantamount to asking our people to continue enduring hardships for a longer time.”

He said the bridge building program could “open tourist areas in his province to local and international visitors.”

For his part, former mayor Allen Quimpo of Kalibo, Aklan said shutting down the program “would consign the countryside to a state of underdevelopment.”

“Without farm-to-market roads and bridges, farmers are forced to work in the same conditions that have been around for decades. There’s no improvement in their lives,” he said.