All 12 segments of the collapsed Cabagan-Santa Maria bridge in Isabela turned out to have defects.

This, according to Sen. Alan Peter Cayetano during the continuation of the Senate Blue Ribbon Subcommittee hearing on Wednesday. He based the finding on various reports from the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) from 2018 to 2020.  

These include cracks, snapped bolts and deformed steel cross.

“Every single span may problema. And these are based on reports that were submitted and I want to thank mga DPWH pero inignore nung higher-ups,” Cayetano said. “Every single one of them ay may napansin ang inyong mga field engineers. So much so that the DPWH asked to get an independent structural engineer.”

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“May bumagsak na tulay, a billion peso na tulay and we don’t seem outraged.”

DPWH logged fewer segments with problems during construction citing only Spans 1, 2, 3, 7 and 8.

Cayetano added that 935 fails were recorded when urban engineers evaluated the bridge.

“Hindi naman pala unexpected na bumagsak yung bridge kasi nga kung since 2018 ’til now five years, problem after problem after problem after problem and then ganyan karaming fails,” he said.

Public Works Secretary Manuel Bonoan explained the said fails were addressed during retrofitting.

They also hired a private consulting firm to study the condition of the bridge.

Bonoan clarified the bridge was under the custody of the contractor and had not yet been turned over to DPWH when it collapsed.

A special committee was created last March 18 to conduct a forensic investigation and is expected to submit a report to DPWH by April 25.

According to Bonoan, the contractor, R.D. Interior Jr. Construction, is waiting for the forensic investigation to be finished before reconstructing the bridge.

“Reconstruction of the collapsed span of bridge is still under responsibility of the contractor and the contractor is wiling to reconstruct the  bridge anytime that the Department will give the go signal,” Bonoan explained. 

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He estimates the reconstruction of Span 3 to be finished in less than a year but  said other parts of the bridge should also be examined.

PREVENTIVE SUSPENSION, CORRUPTION?

Almost a month after the collapse, the DPWH official said no onehas been put on preventive suspension.

“There has not been any suspension that has been meted to any personality in the department simply because many of those who have been one way or the other involved in construction, supervision of the bridge are no longer connected with the department,” Bonoan said.  

Engineer Alberto Cañete, the bridge designer, admitted he knew his design was already obsolete because he finished it in 2012 or 2013, years before a new bridge code was released in 2015.

“I recommended in writing kailangan i-redesign talaga ‘to and I believe na yan ang main reason bakit ganun kamahal ang retrofit,” Cañete said. “I’m very confident na pag finorensic investigation to, overloading to.”

In an interview after the hearing, Cayetano assured the public someone will be held responsible for the collapse. He is also looking at possible corruption.

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“Obviously, there's a quiet cover-up that's happening,” Cayetano said.

“I want them to know, if they don't turn around and they don't prove it, we have evidence against them. I still have something that hasn't been released.” 

He added, “The paperwork is more than enough to show that it wasn't an accident. This was waiting to happen.”