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GOV.
Erico Aumentado has sought the turnover of the Loboc jumbo
bridge to that municipality.
In
a letter to Public Works and Highways Secretary Hermogenes
Ebdane Jr., the governor reminded the former of the instruction
of President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo by cellphone to turn
over the "famous" bridge so that the municipality
can convert it into a park or hanging garden or whatever tourism-related
purpose it will serve.
President
Arroyo gave the instruction to Ebdane during her visit to
Loboc last August 24 when she inaugurated the Loboc Children's
Theater built at P8 million with funds donated by Ambassador
Carlos Chan - the Philippines' special envoy to China, watched
the Loboc Children's Choir perform and had an unscheduled
cruise upstream to the small busay (falls) and back.
Aumentado
said the municipal government under Mayor Leon Calipusan has
plans of developing the bridge into a tourist attraction and
the situs of souvenir shops and other facilities to cater
to thousands of tourists.
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To
note, one of Ebdane's predecessors, former Secretary
Gregorio Vigilar had called the jumbo bridge "a
monument to stupidity."
The
concrete bridge is built too high and has only one approach.
Through the terms of several Department of Public Works
and Highways (DPWH) secretaries, it has remained such
- bowing to pressure from the church and the public
that driving piles into the ground on both sides of
the end near the Sts. Peter and Paul Parish to build
ramps on might shake and rattle the historic edifice
- the second oldest church hereabouts - destroying it
in the process.
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The
Loboc Children's Choir, the Loboc Youth Choir and the Loboc
Youth Band again performed mini concerts at the Children's
Theater after the President returned to Manila.
Prior
to the concert, Calipusan hosted an open-air dinner on the
bridge. Most attendees observed that the bridge "can
be such a wonderful dinner venue barring rains." The
sides near the railings could be "good sites for stalls
offering native snacks and souvenirs," other guests noted.
Meanwhile,
Aumentado also requested Ebdane to donate to the provincial
government the unused concrete piles now just being "hidden"
in a nipa plantation some few kilometers away from the jumbo
bridge.
He
said the piles will be used in the construction by the provincial
government projects of other structures including the Austrian-assisted
President's Bridge Program (PBP).
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