Remarks by President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. at the Inspection of San Juanico Bridge
Good morning everyone.
Nakabalik na tayo rito sa San Juanico Bridge. At dahil kung maalala ninyo noong unang sinara ito at ginawang limitado ang traffic dito sa San Juanico Bridge, ay sabi namin gagawin ng DPWH, aayusin lahat ng nasira dito na hindi na-maintain nang mabuti.
At we were hoping ang aming prediction was makakapagtawid na ‘yung 12 tons na truck dito sa San Juanico by the time, by Christmas time, by New Year.
Mabuti naman medyo napabilis ang trabaho at ngayon puwede na natin buksan ito for 15 tons na truck. So, malaking pagbabago. Makakatawid na ‘yung mga cargo truck natin na dati ay hindi nakatawid. Kailangan pa mag-Ro-Ro at umikot sa mga ibang port na ginawa natin.
Ngayon ay mababawasan na ‘yun. ‘Yung malalaki na lang ang kailangan pa sumakay sa barko.
But mayroon pa rin plano para medyo ma-alleviate ‘yang sitwasyon na ‘yun. There is a plan from the local government, the mayor of Tacloban has brought it up, na ‘pag gabi, ‘pag mas madalang ang traffic, baka puwedeng gawin ay magpadaan ng one way lang kahit ‘yung malalaking truck.
Kasi kung sa ngayon, two ways 15 tons. So, 15 tons na magkabila. Pag one way na lang, kahit 30 tons kayang tumawid pero one way lang.
So, ang gagawin ‘yung LGU, ‘yung magkabilang LGU, sila ang magta-traffic para tiyakin na one way lang ang takbo. So, isasara ‘yung one side. Kagaya pagka may – pagka tinatrabaho ‘yung kalsada, ganoon. That’s the same idea.
So, we will explore that possibility para naman mas maging magaan ang ginagawa ng mga transportation workers na tumatawid at mas mapapabilis.
At hindi lang ‘yun, siyempre makakapagbalik sila sa dati nilang binabayaran na ngayon nagbabayad pa sila para sumakay sa barko ay baka mabawasan ‘yung kanilang kailangan bayaran, which will also bring down transport costs, which will also bring down the price of goods.
So it’s a – ganoon kahalaga itong trabahong ginawa dito. Kung makita ninyo, ‘yung mga section na talagang malaki ang sira ay nilagyan na muna ng reinforcement. Ito ‘yung malalaki na bakal, ‘yan ang reinforcement.
Para habang inaayos ‘yung sa ilalim – ‘yung mga nakikita natin diyan, ‘yung mga nakalawang, ‘yung mga bolt na nawala na, ‘yung mga pin na nawala na – ‘yun, ‘yan ang ginagawa nila ngayon.
Ang ating… We are hoping for the total return of the bridge’s function to allow 33 tons two ways by the middle of – [When do we think we can – ?] [DPWH Secretary Vince Dizon: Third quarter of 2026.] – hopefully by the middle of next year, third quarter of next year, fully functional na ito.
I hope that this serves as a lesson to all future administrators in government, of all government workers who have anything to do with this.
The retrofit costs us PhP1.1 billion. That is money that we could have saved if proper maintenance was carried out on San Juanico.
We would not have to do any of this kung ‘yung every three years iniinspeksyon, inaayos. Wala tayong gagastusin na kahit na ano. ‘Yun lang, MOOE lang ‘yun. That’s the MOOE of DPWH. Nakasama diyan. Kasama ‘yan sa MOOE ng DPWH.
Eh kung saan-saan napunta, kaya’t hindi na nag-inspeksyon kaya tayo nagkaganito.
Sana naman itong experience natin na ito, matuto na tayo na napaka-importante na tayo ay continuing maintenance.
Ngayon, tinanong ko sa ating mga engineer, kung tama ang ating pag-maintain, kung tama ang ating pag-ayos, magkakaroon ba tayo ng malaking retrofit in so many years? Ika nila, basta’t maayos ang maintenance, hindi na tayo kailangan mag-retrofit.
Siguro mag-repaving o ganyan pero madaling trabaho lang ‘yan. Pero hindi na natin kailangan gawin ito ulit basta’t maayos ang tuloy-tuloy, constant and regular maintenance ang gagawin. That is what’s the most important lesson I think that we should all learn from this.
Ang laking – ang laking sagabal sa commerce dito sa Region 8 ang nangyari dito dahil sa pagsisira – ‘yung nakita natin maraming sira dito sa San Juanico. At hindi… It’s not just convenience but it is cost, it is food supply, it is the raw material for some of our manufacturers, it is of course the goods that are being sold in the stores. Lahat ‘yan naapektuhan.
Kaya again, I hope that this is a lesson to us and of all of those in the future whose responsibility will be to look after our thoroughfares, to always remember the experience of San Juanico Bridge that if we had only maintained it, we would have saved a great deal of problems.
Not only that PhP1.1 billion that we spent, kung hindi ‘yung sakripisyo na dinaanan ng ating mga truck; ating mga tindahan sa Samar, dito sa Tacloban, sa Leyte, on either side.
So, the effect of that is much, much bigger than just the bridge. Kaya ‘yun ang ating laging kailangan isipin at matuto na tayo. Alam naman natin kung paano ang gagawin para maiwasan ‘yang ganyang klaseng sitwasyon.
But I’m very happy that I’m able to say now, it is very close to our deadline. And so, the San Juanico Bridge is partially, partially finished. It will be finished next year.
The repair of San Juanico Bridge is partially finished. It will be finished next year so that the bridge will be able to take again the load of 33 tons going both ways.
All right. Maraming salamat. Damo nga salamat. Thank you.
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