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More than fifteen (15) years ago, way back in 2003, the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) and the Metro Manila Development Authority (MMDA) had the initiative to supposedly build three (3) to four (4) bridges by the end of the year as part of a program to provide more roads in the Metro. 

One of the bridges was the Estrella-Pantaleon Bridge which runs from J.P. Rizal street near the Rockwell area in Makati City to Mandaluyong City. 

However, construction of the the bridge only finished in 2011, eight (8) years since its proposed date. The said initiative had been accomplished under the Bridge Construction and Acceleration Project for Calamity Stricken Areas I (BCAPCSA I). The project had been a collaboration between the Philippine government, through the DPWH, and Waagner-Biro Philippines Inc. (WBPI). 

They began construction on 7 July 2008 and ended on 6 July 2011, finishing the project three (3) months ahead of the projected completion date.  

The bridge was built also because of the cooperation of the mayors for Makati and Mandaluyong then, which were Jejomar Binay Jr. and Benjamin Abalos Jr. respectively.

Fast forward to June 2017, there had again been an initiative that affected the Estrella-Pantaleon Bridge, this time to widen it. And according to DPWH Secretary Mark Villar, the expansion would be fully funded by the Chinese government.

The widening of the bridge should supposedly help the congestion of traffic in the area, but in attaining the goal, frequent users of the Estrella-Pantaleon Bridge would first have to suffer since the bridge was closed in September 2018 in preparation for the expansion. It was then postponed and reopened to ease traffic in the area for the holiday season. 

Now, on September 2019, a year later, the bridge had been closed again for reconstruction. 

And according to MMDA data, the Estrella-Pantaleon Bridge is caters to around 100,000 vehicles daily. These highly affected stakeholders are public utility vehicle (PUV) drivers, the Mandaluyong to Makati – and vice versa – commuters, and the private vehicles that frequently pass by the bridge. 

Closing the bridge affected the routes of the approximately 100, 000 PUVs and private motorists. It also caused inconveniences to the commuters, what with the route changes and varying stops. It also caused the proliferation of the volume of both public and private vehicles in some locations as well as the worsened traffic situations in the alternate routes. Although, in return, the expanded bridge will be able to accomodate more vehicles and ease the bottlenecking and congestion in the area once the project had been completed. 

While the motorists are the ones most affected, other stakeholders to the Estrella-Pantaleon Bridge expansion project would be the DPWH, given that this project had been an initiative under the agency. The Chinese company that had funded the project is also a stakeholder since they are funding it and would expect a return of investment for it. 

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In terms of the theories discussed in class, this project tackles social and political participation in the sense that the citizens should have been informed regarding the closing of the bridge since it had greatly affected the citizens of the area. The people of Mandaluyong (and Makati) should have been given the information on the scale of effect of the project, mainly the number of cars, commuters, and residents that will be affected.  The local government unit (LGU) should have also informed the citizens regarding the bidding process for the bridge for the sake of transparency.

Aside from this, the project should have gone through the participatory method via public consultations and hearings done in focused group discussions. The project had fallen under neighborhood government, with the nature of interaction as political, representative democracy, and accountable decision-making.

The barriers of the Estrella-Pantaleon Bridge expansion project include insufficient financial resources of both the national and local government if we had to source the funding from international companies; the low level of participation since the citizens were not informed of the bidding process as well as an advanced notice that the bridge would be closed for reconstruction. 

The project’s key actors include the commuters, both public and private vehicles that utilize the bridge in traveling from Makati to Mandaluyong (and vice versa) on a daily basis, the Philippine government (via DPWH), and the Chinese company that funded its reconstruction. 

Lastly, and quite obviously, the consequences of this project is the traffic situation for the duration of the project as well as the paying back the Chinese for their investment. 

Sources:

[1] More bridges across Pasig

https://www.philstar.com/metro/2003/04/20/203057/more-bridges-across-pasig

[2] Construction of 19 Austrian-funded bridges revealed

https://www.philstar.com/business/real-estate/2011/07/08/703422/construction-19-austrian-funded-bridges-revealed

[3] Construction of two China-sponsored bridges to begin this year

https://news.abs-cbn.com/business/06/29/17/construction-of-two-china-sponsored-bridges-to-begin-this-year

[4] Estrella-Pantaleon bridge reopens to motorists