Jonas opens footbridge in Subangdaku

CEBU, Philippines - More than 500 families residing in sitio Riverside A in barangay Subangdaku, Mandaue City will now feel safe with their newly inaugurated steel bridge .

Mandaue City Mayor Jonas Cortes, together with Subangdaku barangay Captain Walter Dy and other city officials, attended the inauguration and blessing of the steel bridge yesterday morning.

It connects sitio Riverside to M.C Briones Highway crossing the Subangdaku river.

Fr. Edwin Tirado C.M officiated the blessing.

Danny Cruz, 58, married, and a resident of the place, said the danger posed by the old wooden bridge prompted barangay officials to air their concern to Mayor Cortes late last year.

"Sa una, makuyawan mi moagi kay gabok na kaayu ang taytayan, unya naa say mangahagbong sa suba kon tingbaha," Cruz said.

The newly constructed bridge measures one and half meters wide and 15 meters high.

The steel bridge was constructed at the city motor pool using abandoned steel materials of the unfinished Uniwide building which was sequestered by the city government after it failed to pay its rental to the city.

"This is a product of love for the residence and no strings attached. I hope ila ning ampingan ug dili ma-cannibalize," Mayor Jonas Cortes said.

Meanwhile, The Traffice Enforcement and Management (TEAM) will implement a truck ban on the newly inaugurated Cansaga Bay bridge which stretches from barangay Paknaan to barangay Tayud in Consolacion town.

Dominador Cortes, head of TEAM, said his office has been receiving orders from the DPWH to ban the entry of trucks and other containerized vans to protect the bridge from early destruction.

DPWH said that the newly built bridge is still in the curing period the reason why the entry and passage of heavy vehicles in the area should be banned.

Only light vehicles and private vehicles are allowed to pass.

Tricycles and motorcycle taxis or “habal-habal” are also prohibited from entering the area.

He said the inauguration of the bridge early this year has minimized the volume of traffic at the Cebu North Road. – Flor Z. Perolina  FREEMAN NEWS)