00:00Not only was the design wrong, but the construction of the bridge in Isabela seemed to have been saved.
00:05President Bongbong Marcos inspected the project,
00:10which initially cost half of the cost.
00:13Ian Cruz has the story.
00:18In his inspection of the construction of the Cabagan-Santa Maria Bridge in Isabela,
00:22President Bongbong Marcos added details.
00:25Not only was the design wrong,
00:27but it was first mentioned by the Department of Public Works and Highways.
00:42The President said that this was supposed to be a suspension bridge
00:45or a bridge that is attached or supported by steel cables,
00:49but he did not do that.
00:56And that is what was given.
00:59That is where the steel was given.
01:01If it is a cable, it should not be given.
01:04After the initial savings, the cost of the project decreased to Php 900 million.
01:09But because of the weak construction, it had to be retrofitted,
01:13so the cost of the bridge also increased to Php 1.2 billion.
01:17Now, it will be spent again because the bridge needs to be repaired,
01:21and it seems that the savings will be lost, according to the President.
01:24We saved Php 1.8 million, but it was useless.
01:28Now, we will go back and we will spend a lot again.
01:31It's like we built a new bridge.
01:34Based on the straight line diagram of DPWH,
01:37Phase 1 started in 2014,
01:39while Phase 2 started in 2016,
01:41and Phase 3 started in 2019,
01:43while Retrofitting started in 2023 and 2024.
01:47But the President said that the problem was not with the construction,
01:51because he just followed the design.
01:53Why did it have to be refitted?
01:55When the construction started,
01:56it was already seen that it was moving, that it was weak.
01:59That's why it had to be returned and refitted.
02:02So, the whole process is...
02:05The whole process...
02:06The construction was okay,
02:08up to the specifications they made.
02:10But the specifications were wrong.
02:12So, this is a design problem.
02:15The project manager also agreed.
02:16They did a good job.
02:18The DPWH approved it.
02:20There are contests for that.
02:21So, you can't just put it there without...
02:25without going through the quality control.
02:27That's one of the problems.
02:29The movement of Pier 8,
02:30or one of the posts,
02:32under the bridge that's in Cagayan River.
02:34But that's one of the retrofits.
02:37A third-party consultant reviewed it again.
02:39And they came up with the retrofitting works.
02:43It's like there's a tilting...
02:44It's already there.
02:45I cannot further explain it.
02:47The DPWH also said
02:49the materials used are not substandard.
02:52There were tests done during construction.
02:56That is what I was told and seen.
02:59According to the President,
03:00they will find out
03:01who is responsible for the wrong design
03:04of this new Santa Maria Bridge,
03:07if it collapsed.
03:08But for now,
03:09what's important is
03:10to fix the broken bridge.
03:13Let's fix the problem first.
03:15Believe me.
03:16We will find out who is responsible.
03:18Who is responsible is basically
03:20who made the design.
03:22Because their design is poor.
03:24Look what happened.
03:25The President also urged
03:27to monitor vehicles on the bridge
03:29with a capacity of 44 tons
03:32even if the camera has a resolution
03:34to investigate the collision
03:36that injured six people.
03:38From Cabagan, Isabela,
03:39for GMA Integrated News,
03:41Ian Cruz, Katutok, 24 Hours.
03:49For more UN videos visit www.un.org
03:51And don't forget to subscribe to this channel.
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