Review of truck overloading sought

A SENATOR is calling for a review of the government’s policies against the overloading of trucks and trailers, following the collapse of a multi-billion-peso bridge in Isabela province.

“We must find out how the truck that reportedly weighed 102 tons was able to get on the bridge that has a 45-ton maximum capacity. I am certain that this is not an isolated incident, and a lot of overloaded trucks are able to go about their business without being flagged,” Senate President Francis G. Escudero said in a statement on Sunday.

Mr. Escudero said that the government should also prohibit the installation of reinforcement on truck beds or trailers, adding that a visual inspection of trucks would already reveal if they were reinforced or not.

“The (Land Transportation Office) should prohibit the addition of any reinforcement to the beds of trucks to automatically prevent overloading of trucks, and if that happens, the truck owners should be held responsible,” he added.

He said that government agencies should also determine the load capacity of the roads and bridges used by trucks, based on the thickness of the concrete used to pave them, “because these have specified maximum weights that must be followed by the trucks.”

Mr. Escudero said that he would call for an accounting of the expenses incurred due to the result of the infrastructure damaged from the overloading and the effectiveness of the policies and programs to prevent overloading, during the budget deliberation of the Department of Transformation and the Department of Public Works and Highways.

The P1.2-billion Cabagan-Santa Maria bridge in Isabela province collapsed on Feb. 27, due to alleged critical design flaws. The bridge ultimately failed under the weight of two overloaded trucks, each exceeding 100 tons and far beyond the bridge’s 44-ton capacity limit. — Adrian H. Halili