CITY OF SAN FERNANDO – Project billboards photographed near the vicinity of the nearly-six-years-in-the-making Pampanga Delta Bridge in Barangay Bebe Anac, Masantol, Pampanga showed two separate contracts. (Photograb from Cabalen Macabebe Pampanga FB page)
The older one indicated the contractors as J.H. Pajara Construction/ Eddmari Construction and Trading; timeline of construction from Oct. 16, 2019 to Sept. 14, 2023; project cost at P566,628,265.70.
The newer showed the contractor as Eddmari Construction and Trading; timeline of March 7, 2025 to Nov. 26, 2026; project cost at P380,261,912.24.
“Makikita sa larawan na nagpapatuloy pa rin ang konstruksyon ng tulay sa kabila ng pagtatakdang completion date noong 2023 para sa unang kontrata. Dahil dito, isang panibagong kontrata na nagkakahalaga ng halos ₱380 milyon ang inilabas at nakatakdang matapos sa Nobyembre 26, 2026,” noted Cabalen Macabebe Pampanga.
“Sa kabuuan, aabutin sa ₱946,890,177.94 ang pinagsamang halaga ng proyekto mula 2019 hanggang sa bagong target completion date na 2026,” it added.
Everything appears to be in order in the FB post. As is.
Some questions though need to be addressed by the Department of Public Works and Highways given the banner story of Punto! Central Luzon issue of Sept. 12-17, 2022 – “P566.6-M Pampanga Delta Bridge 88% complete.”
Already but 12% to full completion in the third quarter of 2022, absent any announcement of fund lack or right of way problems, in the story quoting DPWH Senior Undersecretary Emil Sadain, still uncompleted three years after with a new funding of P380.2 million.
That the bridge project shares the same contractor – Eddmari Construction & Trading – as the Candating Flood Control Project which Sen. Ping Lacson dubbed as “the face of failed flood control projects” already raises the proverbial red flags and begs the as-proverbial million-dollar(s) question.
Flood control plan
A sidebar story in the same Sept. 12-17, 2022 issue of Punto reported that the DPWH has commissioned planning and engineering consulting firm Woodfields Consultants Inc. “to formulate a comprehensive, effective and efficient plan for the Pampanga River Basin.” Again, with same Senior Usec Sadain cited as the source of the story.
Searches in the web for follow-up stories of DPWH-Woodfields deals showed projects in Tacloban and Marikina, none on the Pampanga River Basin, at least as of posting time, Sept. 22, 2025.
Question now: What happened to the Woodfields commissioned plan?
A flood masterplan for Central Luzon obtains in the web, in press release of the Presidential Communications Office dated March 18, 2016 and titled: Public Works Department proposes P1-billion, 60-kilometer dike for Central Luzon (see
https://pco.gov.ph/march-18-2016-news-releases/).
That was precisely what former DPWH Secretary Rogelio “Babes” Singson said.
Begging more explanations from the DPWH. Punto I-Team
