By Robert B. Roque, Jr.
“London Bridge is falling down, falling down…” is a well-known nursery rhyme meant to entertain young children miming as they sing. Up in Northern Luzon, however, it seems that bridge falls are a recurring headline.
Over the weekend, the Kaliwet Bailey detour bridge in Santo Domingo, Ilocos Sur, literally fell after a 20-ton truck — that’s four times the five-ton limit — crossed its span. The Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) has since rushed in to set up a temporary access route.
But in no sense is that, or even the government’s promise of accountability, comforting. Why? This is the third time a bridge has collapsed in the northern region since March last year. Yes, we’ve seen this twice last year.
In the Cabagan–Sta. Maria Bridge collapse, blame initially veered toward “design flaws.” But engineers later pointed to a far simpler truth: a 102-ton truck crossing a bridge rated for barely half that. Overloading, plain and simple — enabled by a system that failed to stop it.
Then, in October, the Piggatan Bridge in Alcala crumbled under the weight of three trucks hauling palay. Again, the easy culprit was the trucker. The harder truth was institutional neglect: bridges built for a bygone era, left unreinforced for modern loads, and barely monitored.
Now, here we are again — in Ilocos Sur, no less. Three collapses. Same story. Same failures. All in the northern corridor — Regions 1 and 2 — President Bongbong Marcos’s bailiwick. Shouldn’t these incidents be particularly alarming for him? And yet it happens with unbelievable frequency.
The DPWH says it will hold the truck operator accountable in this latest incident. Fine. But accountability cannot stop at the driver’s seat. It must climb the chain — into the offices that allowed these violations to pass unchecked.
Three collapses in one region are not a coincidence or a string of bad luck. It points more to a broken system of guarding public infrastructure. So, Mr. President, when’s the next scheduled time for a falling bridge?
Inciting a riot
Going viral on May 1 were not the issues chanted in the usual Labor Day march, but an absolute airhead who supplanted the protest in Manila by swinging at a cop peacefully holding his ground. The video shows this tough guy, his face covered, and instead of marching to the beat of workers’ rights, goes full kanto — throwing punches at a cop, nearly sparking a brawl.
The Manila Police District and the Philippine National Police (PNP) held the line with maximum tolerance despite the cheap shot. The cops on the frontline did not retaliate with a punch. That’s discipline, Mr. Tough Guy.
The good thing is, his face has been visible in other video footage, and so the hunt is on. Let me egg on the PNP to go get this guy behind bars, where he can think of putting his energies to better use, since he doesn’t seem capable of respecting the work of others.
Guys like these with mighty arms and strength in those pecs have no right being a goofball at the picket line, derailing legitimate grievances. Instead of representing the labor sector with dignity, he embarrasses it. I hope he learns his lesson in jail.
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