ILOILO CITY—Presidential candidate Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. and his sister Senator Imee Marcos vowed the construction of the proposed bridges linking the islands of Panay, Guimaras and Negros.
“It will be a priority . This will be an integral part of national development,” Marcos Jr. said in a virtual press conference with Visayas media on Wednesday, April 27.
“I can very categorically and committedly say that these are not promises,” said Senator Marcos separately while in the province of Iloilo last Tuesday, April 26.
It’s been decades already since the bridges in the Visayas were proposed.
The first phase of the proposed bridges was supposed to have started during the Duterte administration as part of the “Build, Build, Build” program. However, the Chinese government withdrew its initial agreement to finance the construction.
Marcos Jr. said he is constantly talking with senatorial candidate Mark Villar, who served as secretary of the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH).
But Marcos Jr. is pushing for a more detailed planning or study to see which among the government, the private sector or a public-private partnership (PPP) is the best option to finance the construction.
Late last year, the South Korean government disclosed the possibility of funding the proposed bridges. This was after the Export-Import Bank of Korea (Korea Eximbank-Philippines) and DPWH signed the minutes of discussion (MoD).