SENATE, Pasay City — If what one senator suspects is true, then corruption could have caused the government to lose billions of pesos in the collapse of the Cabagan-Santa Maria bridge in Isabela province!
On Wednesday, March 26, Senator Alan Peter Cayetano presented before the Senate's Blue Ribbon Committee several reports from the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) and a private construction firm which claim to show there are defects in the said bridge even during its construction.

During the continuation of the Senate Blue Ribbon subcommittee’s investigation, Cayetano expressed belief that the collapse was not an 'accident'.

“It’s been constructed since 2014. It’s been inspected again and again and again, and hindi aksidente na bumagsak siya,” the irate senator pointed out in the hearing.

In his presentation, Cayetano disclosed that all 12 spans of the bridge had reported defects, contrary to the DPWH’s claim that only five spans had faults.

“In my research, sa sinubmit n'yo ha, 12 ang may problemang span hindi lima. Every single span may problema and these are based on reports that were submitted and I want to think mga-taga DPWH (kayo) pero in-ignore ng higher ups,” he cited.

“Hindi totoong dalawa at tatlo lang since 2014 to ngayon na bago ibigay. Every single one of them ay may napansin ang inyong mga field engineers,” the senator added.

Cayetano showed that the reports from DPWH’s project engineers in 2018 and 2020 indicatedsignificant observations on the construction of the bridge that connects the municipalities of Santa Maria and Cabagan.

He also noted the 2023 audit observation memorandum which reported multiple cracks and damaged on the concrete arch around the hanger. Apart from this, the evaluation of the 'as-built' condition of the bridge conducted by Urban Engineers showed around 935 fails.

Reacting to Cayetano’s presentation, DPWH secretary Manuel Bonoan enthused that “it would be appreciated it looks like since day one there’s already a problem.”

Despite this, though, the senator questioned why the DPWH was the one who hired and paid for the structural engineer that inspected the bridge for a third-party observation, instead of the contractor of the project. This was further highlighted in the January 20,2020 memorandum report of DPWH’s Bureau Research and Standards that recommended the contractor to be the one who will hire the structural engineer to asses the integrity of the bridge “at his own expense.”

In answer, DPWH undersecretary Eugenio Pipo admitted that it was indeed the department who paid for the hiring of a third-party assessor for the project, prompting Cayetano to quip “napaka-special ng contractor."

Still, the senator quickly interjected that "I’m not saying at this point in time na kasalanan ng contractor, but I’m saying the evidence is there bumagsak eh; so mayroon at mayroong may kasalanan nito.”

“I hope that April 25, not a submission date, but a date where the DPWH draws a red line na hanggang dito lang kayo, pag tumawid kayo dito, we’ll go after you,” he concluded.