P15M needed for construction of bombed bridges in Datu Piang town

MAGUINDANAO, Philippines  – Engineers need some P15 million to repair the bridges in Datu Piang town bandits had repeatedly tried to blow up in a spate of attacks that started last month.

The adjoining Lintukan and Kaykunag Bridges, which connect the town proper of Datu Piang, in the second district of the province, to key trading centers in Central Mindanao, were bombed repeatedly by Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters in attacks that began on July 3.

The Kaykunag Bridge had been fixed using maintenance funds from the Second District Engineering Office (SDEO) of Maguindanao.

The chief of Maguindaao’s SDEO, Engineer James Mlok, said one span of the Lintukan Bridge, 18.7 meters in length, has to be reconstructed due to the destruction caused by Wednesday’s second attempt to blow it up using a powerful improvised explosive device.

“The repair works will entail some P15 million because apart from the repair works, we need to construct a temporary access road beside that bridge for the convenience of the public,” Mlok told The Star.

“It is the farmers and fisherfolks of Datu Piang that are now suffering from these bombings,” Mlok said.

Plans and work programs for the reconstruction of one of the two spans of the Lintukan Bridge will be reviewed by the national office of the Department of Public Works and Highways.

Major Gen. Romeo Gapuz, commanding officer of the Army’s 6th Infantry Division, said soldiers will now guard the two bridges on a 24-hour basis to prevent bandits from bombing the bridges.

Local officials, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the two bridges were bombed after prominent members of Datu Piang’s Moro business community refused to shell out “protection money” to the BIFF.

BIFF bandits last bombed Lintukan Bridge 5:30 p.m. Wednesday, eight hours after another group of bandits blasted a roadside bomb in nearby Shariff Aguak town, also in the second district of Maguindanao, wounding seven soldiers who were passing by onboard a light vehicle.