Candaba bridge folk cheat death

Living under a bridge is an accident waiting to happen.

Consider this: Families residing underneath the Candaba viaduct along the North Luzon Expressway had a close shave after a trailer plummeted from the bridge, landed on its wheels then rolled off towards the colony of shanties.

Luckily for these people, the monster on wheels stopped on a dime, yet held them breathless and horrified. Fortunately, too, for the driver and helper of the ill-starred trailer, they came out unscathed.

The freak accident took place on April 8 at Kilometer 51 of the tollway in Barangay Tabuyoc, Apalit, Pampanga.

An NLEX traffic accident report showed that the Isuzu trailer owned by Far East Container Lines Inc. and driven by Alfredo Llibo was cruising northbound at 80 kph when a dump truck it was following slowed down for no apparent reason.

Llibo stamped the brakes to avoid a collision, but his vehicle swerved to the left until the container van he was towing hit the railings. Llibo steered to the right to put his trailer back on track, but he has lost control because the vehicle continued to veer towards the right edge of the bridge.

On impact, the container van fell off and landed on the pavement, obstructing lanes 1 and 2, while the tractor head and trailer dangled on the railings. Momentarily, the tractor plunged to the ground below.

NLEX officials warned the bridge people that they might face more dangers when the rains come and floodwaters could possibly sweep their shanties away.

According to the MNTC, a total of 161 families have been living under the viaduct from Barangay Dulong Malabon in Pulilan town, Bulacan up to Barangays Tabuyuc and San Juan in Apalit since the 60s and are under constant danger from floods and all types of vehicles above their heads.

Tabuyuc has the most number of informal settlers, mostly from Pampanga who had no stable means of livelihood.