DPWH Southern Leyte defends trending 'bridge without river' project

MAASIN CITY, April 24 (PNA) -- The Department of Public Works and Highways Southern Leyte District Engineering Office (DPWH-SLDEO) has called on netizens to be more responsible in posting government project photos as they defended a “bridge without a river” project that has gone viral on social media.

Reacting to a Facebook post of a certain Lito Quesada, District Engineer Ma. Margarita C. Junia said the Pacu Bridge in Bontoc, Southern Leyte was built to protect the road section from a fault line and an underground water source.

“It has been a common knowledge for the residents in the area and for the usual motorists passing through this section that the numerous reblocking, embankment and slope protection projects implemented in this particular section in the past have been destroyed every time continuous heavy rains occur,” Junia said.

Junia confirmed that the slab bridge is a project of DPWH-SLDEO built three years ago in Pacu village. It was built to cross a fault line, “saving millions of pesos worth of road repair works and protecting lives and properties.”

The lady engineer asked social media users to really find out why the government had to push such projects instead of making conclusions at a glance and share it to millions of Facebook users.

Quesada posted the photo in his Facebook account with a caption “ito ang gawa ng Daang Matuwid” (this is the work of straight path) on April 15, referring to the slogan of President Benigno C. Aquino III.

“Please be informed that bridges are not constructed for rivers only... Please do not link to politics our infrastructure works without asking for facts,” Junia added.

The post, which was shared 418 times as of Saturday morning, was later removed from Facebook.

Personal blog Pinoy Trending News also published the post last week. (PNA)
BNB/SQM/DPWH-PR/EGR