February 27, 2025. 8 p.m… A deafening crack echoes through Isabela.

A P1.2-billion dream—a bridge meant to lift a province from isolation—crumbles into the river below. A 10-wheeler truck, they say, brought it down. 102 tonnes of steel and stone, too much for a structure hailed as a triumph of modern engineering.

But here’s the twist: people who saw it—locals, netizens, eyewitnesses—they’re crying foul. ’87 tonnes of rocks in THAT truck?’ they ask. ‘Impossible.’ So, what’s the truth? And why does it feel like the real culprits are slipping through the cracks?

The Cabagan-Sta. Maria Bridge wasn’t just concrete and steel—it was a lifeline.

Stretching 990 meters across the wild Cagayan River, it promised to connect two towns drowning in floods and forgotten by progress.

Conceived in 2014 under Aquino, built through Duterte’s ‘Build, Build, Build’ frenzy, and unveiled in triumph on February 1, 2025, under Marcos—this was a P1.2-billion symbol of hope. But that hope lasted just 26 days.

Wait—P1.2 billion? It started at half that. The DPWH blamed ‘design upgrades’ and a P274-million retrofitting job in 2023, handed to R.D. Interior Junior Construction—a contractor with a shady past tied to a P333-million scandal.

Costs doubled, delays piled up, and oversight? A revolving door of regional directors left no one to watch the cash. Corruption whispers grew louder. Was this bridge built for the people… or for someone’s pockets?

Now, the smoking gun—or so they’d have you believe. Authorities say a 10-wheeler dump truck, hauling boulders from Kalingga, tipped the scales at 102 tonnes—15 tonnes for the truck, 87 tonnes of rocks. The bridge’s limit? A measly 45 tonnes. Case closed, right?

Not so fast.

A 10-wheeler—like a Sinotruk Howo or Isuzu Giga—tops out at 30 to 40 tonnes, legally.

Sure, you could overload it, pile rocks sky-high, defy physics and common sense—but 87 tonnes? That’s a mountain of stone.

Netizens who saw the truck, in person and in blurry news pics, aren’t buying it. ‘No way that fits,’ one wrote on X. ‘It’s not a magic truck.’ Another posted: ‘Looks like 30 tonnes, tops.'”

Watch the whole episode…