WHENEVER there is a scandal such as news of corruption in high places, Malacañang Palace would say heads will roll over these incidents. It is both pathetic and laughable that days after these events, no heads were seen rolling from the Palace by the Pasig River.
Just last week, two incidents had the Presidential Communications Office (PCO) issuing statements using the now-too-tired cliche, “Heads will roll…”
First, the communications office published the warning of Customs Commissioner Bienvenido Rubio who promised that “heads will roll should members of the Bureau of Customs (BOC) are found complicit in the attempted resale of P270 million worth of seized smuggled cigarettes from Capas, Tarlac.”
Rubio had ordered an immediate investigation by the Customs Intelligence and Investigation Service (CIIS) and pledged full cooperation with the National Bureau of Investigation. He said he has instructed the Intelligence Group’s CIIS to look into this matter and report to him immediately.
The smuggled cigarettes, seized at the Port of Subic between July 2021 and June 2022, were consigned to Hongcim International Corp. and Proline Logistics Philippines Inc.
`… it isn’t too much for the citizens to expect from the government that those who are responsible for these disasters would really be punished…’
The second incident is much more scandalous and horrific. A newly retrofitted bridge, the Cabagan-Sta. Maria Bridge in Isabela province, for which the government spent P1.225 billion, had collapsed. Initial investigation showed that one of the reasons for the collapse is a passing 10-wheeler truck which was carrying boulders. The weight of the truck with its cargo was way above the carrying capacity of the bridge. A photograph taken following the incident showed a sign made by the Department of Public Works and Highway (DPWH) Region 2 that says the bridge is for use only by tricycles, motorcycles, jeepneys, cars and other light vehicles.
Palace Press Officer Claire Castro warned during the Radyo Pilipinas’ Prangkahan Na! Program that if there is any trace of corruption in what happened from 2014 until now, they must really be held accountable.
Castro mentioned the year 2014 during the term of President Benigno Aquino III because that was the time when the original bridge was constructed, at a cost of several hundred million pesos. The structure was found to have been sloppily made and needed retrofitting that reached the time of President Bongbong Marcos. Still the completed bridge was not strong enough for 10-wheelers carrying rocks and boulders, as the signage at the foot of the bridge indicated.
The government still needs to determine the real cause of the incident. Undersecretary Castro said it is within the local government unit’s mandate to assess the integrity of the entire structure of the bridge and coordinate with the Department of Public Works and Highways if there is a problem.
The third span of the Cabagan-Sta. Maria Bridge, measuring 60 meters, collapsed at about 8 p.m. on Thursday when a dump truck carrying boulders with an estimated gross vehicle weight of about 102 tons passed through the bridge. According to reports, six people on board four vehicles, including a child, were injured when the bridge collapsed. The construction commenced in November 2014 and was completed on Feb. 1, 2025 with a total cost of P1.22 billion, including the bridge and approaches.
After the usual investigations, it isn’t too much for the citizens to expect from the government that those who are responsible for these disasters would really be punished — for their heads to roll, so to speak — or the Palace should never again use that cliche that only makes people cringe in anger knowing that nothing will come out of these investigations.
