Tondo footbridge a risky crossing with ‘sawed off’ railings

A footbridge in Manila is now posing risks to passing pedestrians after some of its steel railings were allegedly stolen.

According to Oscar Oida’s report on “24 Oras”, the footbridge located at Pacheco St. corner Mel Lopez in Tondo was missing railings which barangay officials suspect were being thieved to sell as scrap materials.

“Nilagari... mga alangan ang oras. Kunwari mga ala-una, alas-dos ganyan. ‘Yan ang ginagawa ng mga bata. Ninanakaw ang mga bakal. Yung mga stock namin ng bakal dito, mga tricycle ninakaw din po,” Nelson Quinsat, barangay kagawad of Brgy. 105, said.

(They are sawing it off in the wee hours of the day. Maybe around 1 a.m. or 2 a.m. They are stealing it. Even our stock steel materials or tricycles are being stolen.)

Scrap iron may be sold at P10 per kilo in junk shops.

But while they are keeping an eye on the illegal activity, Quinsat admitted some suspects were still able to get away with it.

“Yung mga panggabi nagro-roving, binabantayan na ito. Dito na sila pumepwesto. May nahuli rin kami. Dine-derecho namin sa DSWD (Department of Social Welfare and Development),” Quinsat said.

(Those working at the night shift are roving the area. We were able to catch a few suspects who we transferred to the DSWD.)

GMA News reached out to the DPWH for their comment but it has yet to respond as of press time. —Sundy Mae Locus/NB, GMA News