A politician sent a letter to President Ferdinand Romualdez Marcos Jr. calling for a thorough investigation into the Cabagan-Sta. Maria Bridge collapse on 27 February. A 60-meter portion of the bridge collapsed a mere 26 days after it was opened to the public.
The petition was made by Manuel Noli Siquian, a former mayor of the municipality of Angadanan, Isabela. He asked the Chief Executive to order a probe into alleged anomalies perpetuated in the province by local government officials, allegedly including former Isabela Governor Faustino Dy III and others.
The construction of the bridge started back in 2014 during the administration of the late President Benigno Aquino III, with 90 percent completed during the succeeding Duterte administration.
It took more than a decade to finish the 900-meter bridge, only for a section to fall after three dump trucks carrying boulders and weighing about 102 tons each passed over it.
Aside from the bridge construction, Mr. Siquian wants President Marcos to order an investigation into an alleged substandard road construction which cost P1,225,000,000 (that’s over a billion).
Mr. Siquian said the road from Ilagan to the municipality of Divilacan, both in Isabela, was constructed with a loan from the Development Bank of the Philippines using the provincial government’s IRA as collateral payable in 20 years from 2016.
Based on the statement of debt service of the province, according to Mr. Siquian, the amount of P2,900,000,000 as certified by former Governor Dy III, was part of the alleged overpricing in the road construction. There seemed to be an overprice because the original cost of the road construction was P1.6 billion priced at P20,000,000 per kilometer.
The project was the rehabilitation and improvement of an old logging road going to Divilacan. The 84-kilometer road is made of gravel and sand and not concrete or asphalt.
Mr. Siquian suspects connivance among the DBP, the Isabela Provincial Inspection Committee, and the Isabela Provincial Auditor’s office in the release of the funds despite the project having been only half completed.
Another issue that Mr. Siquian wanted looked into was the acquisition of an island off the shore of Isabela province, particularly Honeymoon Island located in Divilacan, by the family of Faustino Dy Jr. on 16 February 1994 under the corporate name Stagno Properties Corporation. Faustino Dy Jr. is the older brother of former Isabela governor Faustino Dy III.
It may be noted that Mr. Siquian also filed a complaint against Governor Rodolfo Albano III in the Quezon City Office of the Ombudsman for alleged graft, corruption and plunder on 28 October 2024.
Mr. Siquian hopes President Marcos would act immediately on the facts he presented in a letter he submitted on the alleged anomalies in the province.