Cagayan gov orders probe of bridge collapse
ALCALA, CAGAYAN—Gov. Edgar Aglipay has ordered a thorough investigation of the collapse on Monday of the Piggatan Bridge here which sent five trucks crashing down and left parts of the national highway linking the capital city of Tuguegarao to the northern towns of Cagayan impassable.
The bridge, constructed in 1974, had an 18-ton load limit, far below the estimated 50-ton combined weight of the five vehicles—an 18-wheel, two 16-wheel and two smaller trucks—passing through it at the time of its collapse.
Aglipay, who inspected the bridge on Monday night, urged the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) to hold accountable those who might have violated regulations.
“If found liable, the truck operator and drivers should be [face] criminal and civil [charges],” he said at a briefing.
Aglipay also ordered the strict monitoring of other aging bridges in the province, including Buntun connecting Tuguegarao and Enrile town, Gava and Baybayog both in Alcala town, and Magapit in Lal-lo town to ensure the durability of these structures and to avoid accidents.
“This should be a wake-up call. Let’s not wait for more disasters before we act,” he added.
‘Just seconds’
“It happened in just seconds,” Jonathan Relos, one of the truck drivers passing through the bridge, recounted the moment it collapsed around 4:30 p.m. Monday.
He said he was transporting 650 sacks of palay that would be delivered to Cauayan City in Isabela province, where the grain sold for P12.80 per kilo, higher than the P11 buying price in northern Cagayan.
“I was aiming to earn for my two children’s school expenses. But now, it’s gone,” Relos, 41, said in Ilocano.
He appealed to authorities to allow them to recover their cargo of palay so the sacks could be transferred to another truck and sold before the grains rot.
Alcala Mayor Cristina Antonio, in a statement, said the bridge’s structural lifespan should be checked.
“Could the bridge be nearing its lifespan, and could this have been a factor in its collapse? Also, should the lifespan of a bridge first draw near before it is replaced?” she asked.
Describing Piggatan Bridge as a critical artery for Cagayan Valley region, Antonio stressed its role in connecting Cagayan to neighboring provinces and Metro Manila.
“All vehicles, including heavy trucks, have no alternative except to pass through the national highway and Piggatan Bridge. They have no other way,” she said.
“Cagayan is one of the country’s rice and corn granaries, and it cannot be helped during harvest season that tons of produce are transported. Shouldn’t bridges with higher load limits have been built to serve today’s pressing needs?” Antonio said.
DPWH action
Oscar Gumiran, district engineer of DPWH’s First Cagayan Engineering District Office, declined to comment further, saying he did not want to preempt actions by Public Works Secretary Vince Dizon.
However, Gumiran confirmed that a team from the DPWH Bureau of Designs had been sent to Alcala to assess the structure after its collapse.
Antonio criticized the department’s previous advisories, which urged heavy trucks to unload cargo and ferry goods in batches across older bridges.
“As the agency in charge of public works, DPWH should have the planning and foresight to install bridges that meet the demand of the times, instead of putting the blame and burden of adjusting upon the public. ‘Overloading’ should not be made a convenient excuse,” she lamented.
One of the drivers was injured and taken to a local hospital, while four trucks had yet to be towed from the collapsed bridge as of Tuesday.
