Press Release
September 3, 2007

TRIPLE DELAY IN PAGKABALIAN BRIDGE BARED

Senator Ramon "Bong" Revilla Jr. unraveled today another "delaying tactic" of the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) as he denounced the triple delay in the construction of the P14-million Pinagkabalian Bridge in Malabon City .

Investigations conducted by Revilla's office revealed the continuous and shameless rescheduling of target completion date in the repair and rehabilitation of the Pinagkabalian Bridge located along General Luna Street that connects Malabon City to Obando, Bulacan.

"This is a proof that delaying of projects is a common practice in the DPWH especially in the National Capital Region. We might as well call it as delaying tactic," the chairman of the Senate Committee on Public Works said.

The billboard for the Pinagkabalian Bridge indicated two dates of project commencement- on December 28, 2006 and the 'actual date' of commencement which was on February 19, 2007.

Furthermore, the billboard clearly stated that the reconstruction should have been finished by last April 17 but was revised to June 4 this same year. It is still unfinished at the present.

"There is a delay from the start up to the finish. It's already three months after the revised expiry date of completion but what we see is a river between the still unconnected sides of the bridge. Let me remind the DPWH that they are building a bridge not a RORO (Roll On - Roll Off) port," Revilla said.

The Pinagkabalian Bridge is among the 23 bridges prioritized by the DPWH for reconstruction this year. Its contractor is Four J Construction and the project director is DPWH National Capital Region (NCR) Director Josefino Rigor, the same official that oversees the controversial Tullahan Bridge in Valenzuela City .

Revilla earlier urged the DPWH leadership to fire Rigor due to the public outrage regarding the questionable construction process of the P63-million Tullahan Bridge . "As I said before, anomalies in the Tullahan Bridge might be just a tip of the iceberg. Director Rigor has a lot of explaining to do once we start our senate probe in the status of the twenty three bridges in the NCR," the lawmaker added. Revilla held an on site inspection two weeks ago on the Tullahan Bridge after receiving information on additional anomalies of the said project, particularly the alleged short depth of its foundations.

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