NHA exec apologizes for collapsed footbridge in Zamboanga City, calls for redesign

National Housing Authority (NHA) General Manager Marcellino Escalada has apologized for the wooden footbridge that collapsed in Zamboanga City during an inspection by local officials on April 26.

A Balitanghali report on Saturday said the collapse was probably due to the heat and rain that day. The NHA-funded wooden footbridge was also reportedly submerged in seawater at times, and that tricycles passed through it.

"I asked for an apology because nangyari 'yun, but moving forward, I said dapat mag-repair agad," Escalada said.

Escalada added that the NHA's foundation of wooden bridges should be redesigned to prevent such incidents in the community in the future.

"Second is dapat ire-design ng NHA yung aming foundation ng wooden bridge because it has become a permanent community already," he said.

House Committee on Housing and Urban Development chair Alfredo Benitez, Zamboanga City Representative Celso Lobregat, Mayor Beng Climaco-Salazar, and other officials were conducting an inspection on the relocation site of those displaced by the Zamboanga siege when the footbridge collapsed on April 26.

Benitez said that the footbridge had cost P12 million.

It has since been repaired after the incident. — Jessica Bartolome/MDM, GMA News