A bridge in Pasig City was temporarily closed after it was hit on Wednesday by barges being swept by the strong current of the Marikina River brought about by Typhoon Carina and the enhanced southwest monsoon.
“This bridge is scheduled to be rehabilitated or reconstructed because its freeboard is too low. It’s not really designed for the barges to pass through,” Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) Secretary Manuel Bonoan told President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. during a situation briefing at the Presidential Security Command on the effects of the typhoon and the monsoon rains.
Bonoan said the DPWH has enough funds to reconstruct the damaged Manalo bridge.
“It’s just the matter of going through the design,” he said.
In the same briefing, Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA) acting chairman Romando Artes reported that 13 barges and tugboats were swept by the strong currents on Wednesday.
They are owned by a construction company contracted for a Japan International Cooperation Agency-funded project at the Marikina River.
“We closed it temporarily, in coordination with the Pasig government, because it might not be safe. The current is still strong. We are coordinating with the office of [Transportation] Secretary Jimmy [Bautista] and the Philippine Coast Guard. The barges are still there and cannot be immediately removed because the current is still strong. However, the Coast Guard has already coordinated with some salvage companies to assess how they can be removed,” Bonoan said in Filipino.
