DPWH: Collapsed Isabela bridge already 鈥榗racked鈥� in 2018
FLAWED FROM THE START? Faulty design may have caused a section of the Sta. Maria-Cabagan bridge in Isabela province to collapse on Feb. 27, 2025, injuring six people, including an 8-year-old boy. — VILLAMOR VISAYA JR.
MANILA, Philippines — There were already concerns about the structural integrity of the P1.2-billion bridge that collapsed in Isabela province due to “cracks” that government inspectors already noticed before it was opened to the public last month, a senior official of the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) told the Senate on Friday.
At the hearing of the Senate blue ribbon committee, Public Works Undersecretary Eugenio Pipo Jr. said the project engineer first reported in 2018 a “structural failure” on the concrete slab of “Span 8” of the Cabagan-Sta. Maria Bridge, prompting the DPWH to seek a third-party entity to check the structure.
From its original cost of P413 million in 2014, the government spent more than triple of its initial budget to complete the 990-meter bridge, which collapsed while a dump truck loaded with stones was passing through its third segment on Feb. 27.
“The integrity [of the bridge] is already questionable at that time because [while] it is not yet subjected to load, there were already perceived defects. There must be something wrong,” Pipo told reporters after the three-hour proceedings.
READ: Cayetano on Isabela bridge collapse: ‘Heads have to roll’
P275-M retrofitting fund
He said those involved in the project, including the private contractor, RD Interior Junior Construction Corp., were just passing the blame on each other.
“That’s why we hired a third-party consultant. But there was no definite [finding] whose fault is it,” the DPWH official added.
Fielding questions from Sen. Alan Peter Cayetano, who presided over the hearing, Pipo admitted the government had awarded a separate contract worth P275 million to RD Interior in May 2023 for the retrofitting of the bridge.
But Cayetano questioned the DPWH’s decision to bid out the repair job, pointing out that this should have been done by the contractor at no cost to the government.
“Isn’t that an anomaly? If there were cracks, who should pay for the repair? That bridge is less than 15 years old,” Cayetano told Pipo.
“You did not include in your findings the cause of the problem when you know that [the bridge] is still under warranty … Whether the cracks were due to the design or not, who should be responsible for that?” he said.
READ: Alan Cayetano blasts DPWH execs: Seems you’re not serious about probe
After 2 weeks
In response, Pipo said they were still in the process of creating a committee that would look into the collapse of the public structure.
He said the department had also yet to place any of its personnel under preventive suspension two weeks after the incident happened.
This further irked Cayetano, who noted the DPWH was allocated with P1.1 trillion this year.
“It has been two weeks since this occurred. Is this not urgent for the DPWH?” he said.
“I’m very disappointed with how the DPWH is taking this … They don’t even have a working theory (on why the bridge collapsed) two weeks after it happened,” Cayetano added.
