Panay-Guimaras-Negros bridges done in six years, senator says

By Francis Allan L. Angelo

Senator Imee Marcos assured that the long-delayed Panay-Guimaras-Negros Island bridges will be realized in the next administration.

In a press conference in Anilao, Iloilo on Tuesday, Senator Marcos, whose brother Ferdinand Jr. is running for president, said the project is already in the advanced stage of planning.

Marcos said the 32-kilometer mega bridge project connecting Panay, Guimaras, and Negros can be started and finished in six years.

“I can categorically and definitively state that this can be finished within the next administration because it is already in the advanced stage of planning,” she added.

The Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) envisions Panay-Guimaras-Negros Bridges as one of the major bridges aimed at linking island provinces, with the main objective of linking Luzon, Visayas, and Mindanao via land travel.

The DPWH had confirmed that engineering services for the bridge will take place, with financial support from the South Korean government, particularly the Export-Import Bank of Korea.

The proposed island bridges connecting Panay Island, Guimaras Island, and Negros Island will be composed of two components. These are the 13-kilometer Panay-Guimaras or Section A that will have a sea-crossing bridge length of 4.97-kilometer; and Guimaras-Negros or Section B or with a total length of 19.47-kilometer including sea-crossing bridge length of 13.11- kilometers.

Ferdinand Marcos Jr. had earlier vowed to pursue the construction of the proposed bridge if he wins the May 2022 presidential elections.

“Kailangan po nating ipagpatuloy ang sinimulan ni Pangulong Duterte na ‘Build, Build, Build’ program sa imprastraktura. Pinag-uusapan nga namin kanina kung papaano ang gagawin para matuloy na ‘yung tulay na manggagaling sa Iloilo hanggang Guimaras hanggang sa Negros (We need to push through with President Duterte’s ‘Build, build, build’ infrastructure program. We have been talking what we should do to finish this bridge that will start from Iloilo to Guimaras, to Negros),” Marcos said during the UniTeam’s political rally at the Tamasak Arena, Barotac Nuevo in February 2022.

FONDNESS FOR MIRIAM

Senator Imee Marcos also tried to strike a sentimental chord during her visit to Iloilo when she mentioned the fondness shown by her father, the late Ferdinand Sr., for the late Ilongga senator Miriam Defensor Santiago.

Santiago ran for president in 2016 with Ferdinand Jr. as her running-mate.

Imee said Santiago wrote so well and even impressed Ferdinand Sr. when she wrote several speeches for the former president.

“She (Santiago) would proudly say that my dad never edited the words in her first draft. My dad was very fond of her and even appointed her as a judge,” she added.

Imee also recalled that she refiled a bill that sought to address major health crises like pandemics which was inspired by Santiago’s “prescient pandemic bill” which never came to fruition.

She added that the COVID-19 pandemic highlighted the need for more rural health units and hospitals, projects which she again attributed to her father Ferdinand Sr.

LOVE FOR EDUCATION

Imee also expressed her admiration for Ilonggos’ love for education when asked about efforts to convert the Iloilo College of Fisheries (ISCOF) into a university, one of the key agenda of Iloilo 4^th district Rep. Braeden John Biron and his father, former congressman Ferjenel Biron.

“Ilonggos love to study. Ang sisipag nyong mag-aral. That’s why my father made efforts to create centers of excellence in education in the regional level.”

Imee said the conversion of ISCOF into a university will push through once the country emerges from the pandemic.

The lady senator was in Iloilo province to bring aid to survivors of Tropical Depression Agaton in the town of Banate.

She said that she was able to expedite the release of around P16.5 million from the Department of Social Welfare and Development to help residents whose houses were swept away by floods.