MikeLigalig.com

Written By June S. Blanco

Bohol Governor Erico Aumentado has sought the turnover of the Loboc jumbo bridge to that
municipality.

  In a letter to Public Works and Highways Secretary Hermogenes Ebdane Jr., the
governor reminded the former of the instruction of President Gloria
Macapagal-Arroyo by cellphone to turn over the “famous” bridge so that the
municipality can convert it into a park or hanging garden or whatever
tourism-related purpose it will serve.

  President Arroyo gave the instruction to Ebdane during her visit to Loboc last
August 24 when she inaugurated the Loboc Children’s Theater built at P8 million
with funds donated by Ambassador Carlos Chan – the Philippines’ special envoy to
China, watched the Loboc Children’s Choir perform and had an unscheduled cruise
upstream to the small busay (falls) and back.

  Aumentado said the municipal government under Mayor Leon Calipusan has plans of
developing the bridge into a tourist attraction and the situs of souvenir shops
and other facilities to cater to thousands of tourists.

  To note, one of Ebdane’s predecessors, former Secretary Gregorio Vigilar had
called the jumbo bridge “a monument to stupidity.”

  The concrete bridge is built too high and has only one approach. Through the terms
of several Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) secretaries, it has
remained such – bowing to pressure from the church and the public that driving
piles into the ground on both sides of the end near the Sts. Peter and Paul Parish
to build ramps on might shake and rattle the historic edifice – the second oldest
church hereabouts – destroying it in the process.

  The Loboc Children’s Choir, the Loboc Youth Choir and the Loboc Youth Band again
performed mini concerts at the Children’s Theater after the President returned to
Manila.

  Prior to the concert, Calipusan hosted an open-air dinner on the bridge. Most
attendees observed that the bridge “can be such a wonderful dinner venue barring
rains.” The sides near the railings could be “good sites for stalls offering
native snacks and souvenirs,” other guests noted.

  Meanwhile, Aumentado also requested Ebdane to donate to the provincial government
the unused concrete piles now just being “hidden” in a nipa plantation some few
kilometers away from the jumbo bridge.

  He said the piles will be used in the construction by the provincial government
projects of other structures including the Austrian-assisted President’s Bridge
Program (PBP).

Linkback: https://tubagbohol.mikeligalig.com/index.php?topic=4887.0