DAVAO CITY, Philippines – The soon to be completed Bucana Bridge has become a battle of narratives between Marcos and Duterte over who should be credited for this project.
President Ferdinand ‘Bongbong’ Marcos Jr arrived in Davao last December 4 to inspect the bridge ahead of its opening on December 15. During this inspection, the President claimed this is part of his administration’s “four major legacy projects” for Davao Region.
Dabawenyos took to social media with posts and comments chiding the President, saying the project started with the former President Rodrigo Duterte in his Build, Build, Build program.
Who really gets the credit then? Let’s look at the facts.
China aid grant
The Bucana Bridge, officially called the Davao River Bridge, began with an agreement signed during the Duterte administration between the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) and the Chinese government.
There are three different dates on when this agreement was signed. In a DPWH statement on its website, it stated the agreement was made with an “Exchange of Letters” signed on November 20, 2018. While a research group Philippine-China Aid Data puts the date on December 9, 2020.
But the same DPWH article also stated that the “implementation agreement” was signed on October 20, 2023 during the Marcos Jr administration. https://www.dpwh.gov.ph/dpwh/news/31715
What is clear is that primary funding of the bridge was granted through an aid grant from China’s Official Development Assistance (ODA) provided by its Ministry of Commerce amounting to P3.126-billion (RMB 40.6 million).
From BBB to BBM
The Bucana Bridge project was originally targeted to be finished in 30 months or two-and-a-half years, according to data from Philippine-China Aid Data. This falls under the next administration under Marcos Jr., which packaged its infrastructure program as Build Better More.
The construction was made by the China Road and Bridge Corporation, one of the main construction firm of China, which also leads the Samal-Davao Bridge construction.
The 1.4-kilometer long Bucana Bridge connects the Coastal Bypass Road from Bago Aplaya to Agdao, and will ease Davao City’s traffic and shorten travel time between the north and south areas. The DPWH said an estimated 35,000 vehicles will pass by the bridge daily.
While Dabawenyos stir debate about legacy and credit, the infrastructure serves the commuting public in Davao. But it also leaves another problem that neither the Dutertes nor Marcoses have addressed: the lives of fisherfolks and residents in Bucana who are displaced by the bridge.
