The Department of Public Works and Highways will build a detour bridge within two months to allow the resumption of vehicle traffic in the section of the Piggatan bridge in Alcala, Cagayan, which collapsed earlier this week, according to DPWH Secretary Vince Dizon.
Dizon, who went to Cagayan to inspect the Piggatan bridge with Gov. Edgar Aglipay, said they also wanted to tap alternate modes of transportation to address the province’s needs for both its people and goods, mainly agricultural crops.
Dizon said that while the DPWH will work to build a detour bridge that people can use in place of the collapsed bridge, the detour will still be too long for convenience.
‘The most pressing issue we’re facing now is the distance of the detour,’ he said. ‘For trucks, it adds about 80 kilometers more to their route. You can just imagine the effect on logistics costs, especially for essential goods like food. That’s a huge impact – more than two additional hours of travel for an 82-kilometer detour.’
According to the DPWH chief, the move would help speed up the transport of agricultural products during the harvest season and reduce the heavy dependence on long-haul trucking routes.
ARROW Law IRR being drafted
Meanwhile, the DPWH will start drafting the implementing rules and regulations (IRR) for Republic Act 12289 or the Accelerated and Reformed Right-of-way (ARROW) Law, which expedites the government’s right-of-way land acquisitions for infrastructure projects.
Dizon named DPWH Undersecretary for legal service Samuel Rufino Turgano to chair the ARROW Act IRR Committee and to form the team that will lead the drafting.
The Senate Blue Ribbon committee hearings on the ghost and substandard flood control projects had revealed that delays in ROW acquisitions for the projects were used to justify stopping work and abandoning the projects.
Meanwhile, the DPWH should lower the prices of their infrastructure projects so as to discourage engineers from getting kickbacks or commissions, Batangas’ Rep. Leandro Leviste said.
He suggested that it would be best if the agency ‘lower project prices by 25 percent to prevent kickbacks’ and to be ‘fully transparent about the 2026 DPWH budget before it is voted on by Congress’ on third and final reading.