Photo courtesy: DPWH
Lost and forgotten in the depth of the ocean of forgetfulness amidst the furors over the construction of the Davao-Samal bridge are the men who dreamed of spanning Samal Island with Davao City.
It was a much-talked about project by leaders of the undivided and divided Davao del Norte but not much was written about who in particular was or were the political leaders of the past that started the germ of spanning Davao City with Samal Island which is part of Davao del Norte.
Years back, the idea of a bridge with a length of four kilometers and crossing the depth and inhospitable under-current was simply an impossibility until San Juanico bridge that linked Samar and Leyte and is part of the Pan-Philippine highway was constructed and considered an engineering marvel. It was the longest bridge in the country then at about 2 kilometers in length.
The idea of a Davao – Samal bridge by my own recollection only started to take shape when then Davao del Norte Governor Rodolfo del Rosario, the Chairman of the Regional Development Council brought it up for discussion since RDC reviews plans especially big ticket projects in the region. He believed then t the bridge will bring progress, draw investors, particularly on tourism, and provide employment opportunities to the islanders who will also benefit from drastic reduction of transport cost of their copra to Davao City traders.
I would presume that the project also passed scrutiny by the National Economic Development Authority for later discussions progressed to where to source the funds.
Pres. Rodrigo Duterte independent foreign policy is frowned by political quarters but earned some degree of respect. US President Donald Trump had heard about his campaign against drug syndicates and somehow believed in Duterte’s not giving any quarters to criminal syndicates. He accepted Duterte’s invitation to the 2017 ASEAN SUMMIT which the latter hosted early in his Presidency. Trump and Duterte had mutual respect for each other and fostered a relationship where they call each other by their first name later.
I say this as an aside to stress the impact of the independent foreign policy of Duterte. China and Russia rolled the red carpet for him. He engaged China’s President Xi Jinping via bilateral talks in resolving conflicts and Russia’s President Vladimir Putin who offered him firearms and ammunition to fight the Maute ISIS terrorists that sieged Marawi City. Japan Prime Minister Shinzo Abe flew to Davao City to see for himself the spartan lifestyle of the Philippine president.
Duterte’s friendship with leaders of advance economies augured well with his Build Build Build program. China and Japan supported the Philippines infrastructure program. The Chinese government provided Official Development Assistance (ODA) for Davao-Samal bridge with a loan worth US$350 million or ₱18.67 billions and construction contract was later awarded to China Road and Bridge Corporation (CRBC) China. Japan undertook the Metro Manila Subway project, some railways and the bypass road with twin tunnels that connects Davao del Norte and Davao City.
Covid 19 pandemic intervened briefly with schedules of program undertaking but the constructions, the bridge included, begun thereafter at a dizzying pace.
The launching of construction of Davao-Samal Bridge was attended and officiated by Pres. Ferdinand Marcos Jr. and Vice Pres. Sara Duterte before the House of Romualdez wage a vilification campaign against VP Sara.
The Davao-Samal Bridge had withstood the test of time, political, private business and environmental interventions including the issuance of the Writ of Kalikasan. The Court of Appeals however had given the signal to continue with the construction for the fruition of the Samal islanders dream.
Trivia:
Don’t you know that there were three proposed landing sites of the bridge on the Davao side? These were Sasa over the so-called green house of the Rodriguez family; the DPWH heavy equipment and maintenance depot in Panakan which is now referred to as Malacanang of the South; and Barangay J.P. Laurel of Panabo, Davao del Norte.
