Marcos Orders DPWH to Fix Funding and Delays on the Samal–Davao City Bridge

By Kaeleb Savon Heck

DAVAO DEL NORTE, Nov. 12, 2026 — President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. has ordered the Department of Public Works and Highways to sort out the funding and implementation problems slowing the Samal Island–Davao City Connector, the China-financed bridge meant to replace the ferry ride between Davao City and the Island Garden City of Samal with a drive of a few minutes.

The order came on Wednesday, Nov. 11, during the 12th meeting of the Economy and Development Council at Malacañang, according to the Presidential Communications Office as reported by the Philippine Daily Inquirer. The council, which the President chairs, reviewed a slate of projects on power, flood protection, travel time, education and social protection. In a press release, the Palace said residents and businesses in Davao City and Samal "are expected to benefit from faster, more convenient travel" once the bridge is done, "as the government works to address implementation challenges and fast-track construction of the landmark infrastructure."

The instruction matters because the bridge is past the halfway mark but short on cash. The DPWH regional office asked for about 4.86 billion pesos for the project in 2026 and received only 314 million pesos under this year's national budget, according to reporting by Mindanao Live. A restructuring of the project cleared the Cabinet's Investment Coordination Committee in October and was sent to the same council for final approval. Neither the Palace statement nor the published reports on Wednesday's meeting said whether the council has now signed off on that restructuring, or what it changes.

What happened at the council meeting

The Economy and Development Council is the top economic planning body in government, and its meetings are where big public works projects get their final approvals, extensions and course corrections.

Wednesday's agenda went well beyond Samal. The Philippine Star reported that the council approved a six-month extension for the seven remaining pumping stations under Phase 1 of the Metro Manila Flood Management Project, moving the deadline from Dec. 2, 2026, to May 31, 2027, without changing the approved scope or cost. The Palace called it the project's "second and final extension." Other reports on the meeting said the council also discussed the rehabilitation of the Agus–Pulangi hydropower complex in Mindanao, dormitories for state universities and colleges, a social protection priority list, and an executive order on local land-use planning.

For the Samal bridge, the public record of the meeting is short: a directive to DPWH to address funding and implementation concerns and to speed up construction. No new cost figure, completion date or loan term was announced.

The bridge by the numbers

The Samal Island–Davao City Connector is a four-lane, toll-free, cable-stayed bridge across the Pakiputan Strait. It runs from the junction of R. Castillo Street and the Daang Maharlika in Davao City to the Samal Circumferential Road in Barangay Limao on the island.

Its size is described differently depending on the source. The Inquirer, citing the Palace, gave the bridge as 3.98 kilometers long. The Department of Finance, in its October statement, described a 4.76-kilometer bridge. Mindanao Live noted that the two figures appear to describe the bridge structure and the full alignment with its approaches, though the finance department did not explain the gap. The bridge is designed to carry about 25,000 vehicles a day.

The trip it replaces is the barge between Sasa in Davao City and Babak on Samal. PortCalls, citing the Department of Finance, said the crossing would drop from about 55 minutes by ferry to about 4.5 minutes once the bridge opens. Mindanao Live, reporting from the same statement, put the comparison at about five minutes against 30 to 50 minutes by ferry today. Either way, the time savings are large for a commuter, a delivery truck or a tourist van.

The cost figure is also unsettled. PortCalls has called it a 20.8-billion-peso project. Mindanao Live reported that the government's 2026 Budget of Expenditures and Sources of Financing lists it at 23.04 billion pesos, and that other outlets have used figures of 20 billion and 23.5 billion pesos.

How the project got here

The bridge is about 90 percent financed by an official development assistance loan from China that was arranged under the administration of former President Rodrigo Duterte, according to PortCalls.

Under the loan agreement signed on May 31, 2022, China lent 2.34 billion renminbi, then worth about 17.39 billion pesos, to cover 90 percent of a 19.32-billion-peso design-and-build contract held by China Road and Bridge Corporation, according to Mindanao Live. PortCalls describes the loan as carrying 2 percent annual interest over 20 years, including a seven-year grace period. DPWH is the implementing agency.

The groundbreaking was held in October 2022 with President Marcos, but full construction did not start until 2024. PortCalls said the delay came from legal challenges raised by some businesses and environmental groups, and Mindanao Live reported that right-of-way disputes held up the start until May 2024. Along the way the completion date slipped from August 2027 to September 2028.

The project also still carries an environmental case. In July 2025, the Supreme Court issued a writ of kalikasan against the project after petitioners argued that construction was damaging Paradise Reef off Samal, Mindanao Live reported. The Court of Appeals in Cagayan de Oro denied a request for a temporary environmental protection order that same month, and construction continued.

Progress and the money gap

On the ground, the bridge is a little more than half built. DPWH Davao spokesperson Dean Ortiz put physical accomplishment at about 61 percent as of late June, slightly ahead of schedule, and the regional office reported about 62 percent as of July, according to PortCalls and Mindanao Live.

Money is the bottleneck. With 314 million pesos in hand for 2026 against a request of about 4.86 billion pesos, the regional office asked the national government for supplemental releases to keep the work on track. In October, Davao del Norte Governor Edwin Jubahib, who chairs the Regional Development Council, said government equity might be needed to finish the bridge, according to Mindanao Live.

On Oct. 22, the Investment Coordination Committee Cabinet Committee, co-chaired by Finance Secretary Frederick Go, approved a restructuring of the project and endorsed it to the Economy and Development Council for final approval. "By improving connectivity between Davao City and Samal Island, we are supporting local businesses and creating more opportunities for communities," Go said in the department's statement. That statement did not say whether the restructuring changes the cost, the loan, the contractor's scope or the finish date.

A promise with a deadline

The political stakes are tied to the calendar. President Marcos's term ends on June 30, 2028. The official completion date is September 2028, three months later.

Officials have nonetheless promised an earlier finish. After an aerial inspection in July, then-Public Works Secretary Vince Dizon said, "I am assuring the people of Davao, the people of Samal that we will finish it before the end of the President's term," according to Mindanao Live. Jubahib repeated that the bridge would be done before June 2028 when he spoke to reporters at the Mindanao Development Forum on Oct. 27.

Since then, the department has changed hands. On Oct. 26, the President moved Dizon back to the Department of Transportation and put Transportation Secretary Giovanni Lopez in charge of public works. That means Wednesday's directive lands on a secretary who has not publicly addressed the Samal bridge since taking over, according to Mindanao Live's reporting.

Analysis: what the order does and doesn't settle

A presidential directive in a council meeting signals priority, and that matters for a project fighting for budget space. But the public record from Wednesday is thin. There is no new peso figure, no revised timeline and no word on the restructuring the same council was asked to approve.

The gap between 314 million pesos and 4.86 billion pesos is the real story. A bridge that is 60 percent built and short of cash can keep moving for a while on its foreign loan, but the government's own counterpart share has to show up eventually. Whether that comes through supplemental releases this year, a bigger line in the 2027 budget or the restructured financing deal will decide whether the June 2028 promise holds.

For people in Davao City, Davao del Norte and the wider Davao Region, the bridge is about more than tourism. A fixed link would make it easier to get workers, goods, patients and emergency services across the strait at any hour, without depending on barge schedules or sea conditions. It also raises real questions for the island, from traffic on Samal's roads to protecting the reefs that draw visitors in the first place. Jubahib has said the province and Samal are planning to widen the island's circumferential road to four lanes and to study a central sewage treatment plant, according to Mindanao Live.

What's next

• The restructuring decision: Watch for word from the Economy and Development Council or the Department of Finance on whether the restructured financing has been approved, and what it changes.
• The 2027 budget: Whether the 2027 national budget gives the bridge much more than this year's 314 million pesos will show how serious the push to speed up construction is.
• The new secretary: Public Works Secretary Giovanni Lopez has not yet publicly repeated his predecessor's promise to finish before June 2028.
• The court case: The writ of kalikasan case over Paradise Reef remains part of the project's background.
• For travelers now: Nothing changes yet. Getting a vehicle to Samal still means the Sasa–Babak barge.

Sources

• Philippine Daily Inquirer, "DPWH told to address Samal Island – Davao City Connector project issues": https://newsinfo.inquirer.net/2339810/dpwh-told-to-address-samal-island-davao-city-connector-project-issues
• The Philippine Star, "Metro Manila flood project completion extended for 6 months": https://www.philstar.com/nation/2026/11/12/2569635/metro-manila-flood-project-completion-extended-6-months
• Mindanao Live, "Samal bridge restructuring clears the Cabinet's investment committee, leaving the President's council and a June 2028 promise": https://mindanao.live/articles/samal-davao-bridge-restructuring-icc-approval-ed-council-june-2028-october-2026/
• PortCalls Asia, "P20.8B Samal-Davao bridge gets fund restructuring nod": https://portcalls.com/p20-8b-samal-davao-bridge-gets-fund-restructuring-nod/
• Department of Finance, "Mindanao's Davao-Samal bridge project secures Investment Coordination Committee approval": https://www.dof.gov.ph/mindanaos-davao-samal-bridge-project-secures-investment-coordination-committee-approval/