What if a vessel hits the Mactan bridges?

I am not a prophet of doom and I hate to be a bearer of stark prophecies. But Murphy's Law declares that if anything can go wrong it will. And it is the common consensus among some maritime experts that I had conversation with that what happened in Baltimore can happen in Mactan. And the accident that brought down the Francis Scott Key Bridge can befall any of the three bridges connecting Mactan to mainland Cebu.

I happened to pass by the Francis Scott Key Bridge some years ago when my friends and relatives took me for a joyride for one week around New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Washington, D.C., Virginia, and Maryland. That bridge was a steel arch and continuous truss bridge that spanned the lower Patapsco River and outer Baltimore Harbor. This opened on March 23, 1977 and was named in honor of the poet Francis Scott Key who wrote the lyrics of the Star-Spangled Banner, the American national anthem. It collapsed on March 26 last month after a container ship, the MV Dali, struck one of its main pillars. That accident can also happen to one of our three bridges. What makes you sure that it won't?

The first bridge, called the Mactan-Mandaue Bridge but officially known as the Serging Veloso Osmeña Jr. Bridge, is also a truss bridge like the Francis Scott Key Bridge. The construction of that bridge started with an idea on September 19, 1968, when the then governor of Cebu, Rene Espina, approached then President Ferdinand Marcos Sr. He was accompanied by Mandaue Mayor Demetrio Cortes, Danao City Mayor Beatriz Durano, the latter's daughter Samboan Mayor Beatriz Durano Calderon (the mother of today's 7th District Rep. Peter John Calderon), and the Korean contractor. Construction started in 1970 and it was inaugurated on July 4, 1973. In April 2013, Congress passed a law naming that bridge in honor of Serging Osmeña. It has a length of 854 meters or 2,802 feet.

The second bridge is called the Marcelo Fernan Bridge in honor of the late chief justice and senator. It is characterized as an extra-dosed cable-stayed bridge similar to the world famous San Francisco Golden Bridge. It used to be the longest cable-stayed bridge in the Philippines until the third bridge that connects mainland Cebu and Cordova was constructed in 2022. This second bridge was inaugurated by then President Joseph E. Estrada, and was opened in 1999 in order to decongest the Osmeña Bridge. It has a total length of 1,237 meters or 4,058 feet. The second bridge is 1.6 kilometers north of the Osmeña Bridge.

The third bridge known as the Cebu-Cordova Expressway or CCLEX is an 8.9-kilometers or 5.5-mile toll bridge that connects the South Road Properties in mainland Cebu and the municipality of Cordova on Mactan Island. It is the longest sea-crossing bridge in the Philippines surpassing the two-kilometer San Juanico Bridge that connects Samar and Leyte. This bridge is also longer than the Candaba Viaduct of the North Luzon Expressway or NLEX connecting Bulacan and Pampanga. This third bridge is decongesting the worsening traffic in the Osmeña and the Fernan Bridges. This is also a big help to commuters coming from southern Cebu to and from the airport.

What happens if a vessel, for instance, a container ship hits the pillar of one of these bridges? What are the precautionary measures that our national or local governments are taking? What national agency is on top? Are the local governments of Mandaue City and Lapu-Lapu City prepared? Let's always remember that ours is a nation of finger-pointing where no one accepts full responsibility. The disaster in Baltimore has caused tremendous loss of lives and properties beyond pecuniary estimation. We need to do everything and anything in order to prevent such an occurrence. What are our proactive interventions?

Hackneyed but still true: An ounce of prevention is much better than a pound of cure.