Marcos admin may inspect all bridges built under Duterte's term—Palace

The collapse of the Cabagan-Santa Maria Bridge In Isabela could lead to inspection of all bridge projects in the country, especially those constructed during the time of former president Rodrigo Duterte, a Malacañang official said.

Palace Press Officer and Communications Undersecretary Claire Castro said the government might be compelled to conduct an inspection on all bridge projects in the country to ensure that the underdesigned Isabela bridge will not be duplicated.

"At maganda rin po na maibigay nating suggestion at malamang po din iyan ang gagawin ng administrasyon – i-inspect po, hangga’t maaari lahat po, with the help of DPWH, with the help of LGUs lahat po ng mga tulay lalong-lalo na po iyong naisagawa sa panahon ni dating Pangulong Duterte dahil hindi po natin alam kung nagiging under-design din po siya (It is good to give a suggestion and probably the administration will do it—with the help of the Department of Public Works and Highways and local government units, to inspect, as much as possible all bridges, especially those built during the time of former president Duterte because we have to find out whether these are also underdesigned)," Castro said in a Palace briefing on Thursday, March 6.

"Kailangan po lahat hangga’t maaari ay ma-inspect (As much as possible, all must be inspected)," she added.

It came after President Marcos inspected the Cabagan-Santa Maria Bridge on Thursday morning, where he concluded that the cause of the collapse was design flaw and the fall was triggered by the heavy-loaded trucks that passed through the bridge.

While the President did not dwell on who to blame and hold liable over the massive bridge collapse during his interview in Isabela on Thursday, Castro said an investigation will be carried out to determine if corruption was involved, causing the bridge to be underdesigned.

"Iimbestigahan mula nang ito ay magkaroon ng design up to the time kung bakit pa ito itinuloy kung hindi na maganda ang design noong 2014. Bakit tinapos pa ito sa panahon ni dating Pangulong Duterte at sinasabi pa nilang Duterte legacy ito (This will be probed from the time the design was made up to the reasoning why the project pushed through despite the design flaw in 2014. Why did it push through during the time of former president Duterte and was even called as Duterte legacy)," Castro said.

It will not stop there, Castro added, as the investigation will also include the people in the current administration who had a hand in the issue.

"Hindi lamang po doon hihinto. Kung may liability rin po ang sinuman sa kasalukuyang administrasyon, dapat din managot. Pero iyan po ay iimbestigahan kung mayroon bang pinagkakitaan dito not once, not twice but many times – aalamin po ito ng Pangulo, aalamin po ito sa pamamagitan po ng pag-iimbestiga (It will not stop there. If there are people from the current administration who are involved in this must be held liable. It will be investigated whether there are people who took advantage of this not once, not twice but many times. The President will look into this through an investigation)," Castro said.

Build, Build, Build was the Duterte administration's flagship program  which aimed to usher in the “Golden age of  infrastructure” in the Philippines.

The program sought to accelerate public infrastructure expenditure from an average of 2.9 percent of gross domestic product (GDP) during the Aquino regime to about 7.3 percent at the end of the Duterte administration. It was pegged to cost around P8 trillion to P9 trillion from 2016 to 2022 to address the huge infrastructure backlog in the country.

READ MORE: Marcos: Design flaw caused Isabela bridge collapse