Finding the unknown

underneath the unnamed bridge located between barangays Tambubong and Caingin.

Extant Spanish colonial bridges are found all over the Philippines with a large concentration in Quezon Province, particularly Tayabas, which has about 21 of varied sizes and scale.

Up north, the province of Bulacan is not widely known to have these kinds of structures except for the Puente de Malolos in Malolos City and remnants of abutments and piers of the brick train bridges of the late 19th century Manila-Dagupan Railway.

Manolo Noche, in his book Puentes de España en las Filipinas: The Spanish Colonial Bridges in the Philippines, however, mentions the existence of two bridges along the Baliuag-San Rafael Road.

He did not specify, however, the exact locations of these unnamed bridges.

San Rafael, located north of the provincial capital, was previously called Caminci or Camanci, which was most possibly named after camansi (Artocarpus camansi), a kind of breadfruit likely abundant in the area.

In the 19th century, Augustinian priest Manuel Buzeta noted in his book, Diccionario geográfico, estadístico, histórico de las islas Filipinas, published in 1850, that the town that time had good roads and notable casa parroquial (parish house), casa tribunal (court house) and carcel (jail).

THESE hidden single-arched bridges can be dated back to the Spanish colonial period. Buzeta also mentioned it was then being served by a secular priest, which is an interesting detail in the largely Augustinian Bulacan province.

He described the land as fertile and productive with agriculture as its main industry.

Part of the town was Hacienda de Buenavista, owned by the San Juan de Dios Hospital in Manila.

Buzeta noted the hacienda produced rice, corn, sugarcane, añil (indigo), legumes and fruits.

In the same book, Buzeta did not mention the existence of stone bridges in town.

However, two bridges with high concrete walls on the road that links Baliuag and San Rafael would spark one’s curiosity since these are narrow, typical of Spanish colonial bridges.

A quick inspection underneath the unnamed bridges located between barangays Tambubong and Caingin and Caingin and Pantubig revealed single-arched bridges of adobe, confirming these were indeed from the town’s Spanish colonial past.

Another bridge between barangays Pantubig and Lico no longer has its arched span, but remnants of its adobe abutments can still be seen underneath the newer concrete span.

THE stone bridge that connects barangays Tambubong and Caingin, possibly made during the second half of the 19th century. There are no records yet on when these were built, but it is very possible that these bridges were constructed in the second half of the 19th century, the period of massive infrastructure projects in the Philippines.

It was also during this time that the town’s church, dedicated to San Juan de Dios was erected.

Aside from its Spanish colonial bridges, San Rafael also has two American period concrete bridges located in barangay Caingin and one in ruins between Barangay Tambubong and Barangay Sabang of Baliuag where an American era dam is also located.

These structures are found at the irrigation canals of the Angat Afterbay Regulator Dam, commonly known as Bustos Dam, an irrigation dam built in the 1920s straddling Bustos and San Rafael towns.