AT WHAT COST?: There is no question that bridges are needed to span rivers and other gaps in our road system. The questions is: What kind of bridges, where, at what cost and against what priorities?Erecting bridges is the job of the Executive. But under our system of checks and balances, President Gloria Arroyo does not enjoy arbitrary powers to secure foreign loans, buy bridges and spread them around any way she wants.Yes, past presidents also built bridges during their time. But that does not mean that all those bridges — steel or concrete — were not tainted with corruption or that the present presidential bridge program is automatically beyond question.

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TELLTALE SIGNS: Postscript has called attention to the new steel bridges program of President Arroyo assisted by financing from the French government, because of telltale signs.

First disturbing detail was that the same operator who worked out with Malacanang the discredited United Kingdom-aided program has resurfaced with basically the same outline — but this time financed by the French.

Malacanang has not explained the termination of the British contract under which were built what Sen. Ping Lason had described as “bridges to nowhere,” because some of them spanned open space with no roads in sight.

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REPEAT JOB: Curiously, the UK deal was dropped amid foreign media reports that London was investigating Mabey & Johnson, the contracted company, for alleged overpricing and the giving of illicit commissions.

If there was something seriously wrong with the UK deal to warrant a rescission of contract, how come the same operator who reportedly worked it out was again allowed to arrange a similar deal with the Palace?

There may be a perfectly good reason for the unusual influence of this middleman, but transparency dictates that Malacanang explains the seeming favoritism.

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QUESTIONS: But these are first-class durable steel bridges built by the French firm Matiere, chorused the defenders of the deal.

The adjectives alone cannot explain why the cost per lineal meter should be 2.5 times that of comparable spans being built by foreign firms from the UK, Spain and Austria. (We have the contract and the technical papers.)

The insistence on the French bridges’ being made of steel that allegedly can last a century opens raw questions. For instance:

Why was 60 percent (Euro 240 million) of the project assigned to the Department of Agrarian Reform and the small remainder (Euro 160 million) to the Department of Public Works and Highways, which is the proper agency for building and maintaining bridges?

How come the technical papers never passed the usual processing of the DPWH staff? The documents were smuggled through the office of the DPWH Secretary and an Executive Director who reported directly to Malacanang.

Why all that secrecy? Malacanang has thrown transparency out the window?

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TEMPTING BILLIONS: As there is no explanation for the involvement of DAR in the project that will cost taxpayers almost P30 billion, the speculation is that DAR is being used because it still has billions waiting to be mined.

Billions earmarked for the ambitious agrarian reform program are accessible to DAR. Also, the billions recovered from unexplained wealth of corrupt officials are mandated by law to go to agrarian reform.

The funds of the DPWH have been depleted, but DAR is brimming with billions. Reminds one of the fertilizer funds that were allegedly used in the last presidential election campaign to fertilize some people’s pockets.

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FERRARI: Back to the bridges, whose technical specifications I have examined. Their glossy pictures set in pleasant surroundings look good, especially to those who have had an overdose of ugly concrete bridges and rickety Bailey-type spans.

The Matiere brochures say that their carrying capacity is a mighty 80 tons! Wow! Tanks and the heaviest heavy equipment can rumble over them without leaving a dent or bending a girder.

The bridges we see on the highways have capacities of 15 to 20 tons, and they seem all right. But here comes the Ferrari of steel bridges designed to carry 80 tons!

These are the French bridges that Malacanang wants in the rural areas whose primary need is farm-to-market roads and simple spans that will not collapse when a carabao or a jeepney laden with palay and vegetables pass through.

This clear overcapacity makes them very expensive. It is like buying a Ferrari for the maid to use for marketing.

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SUNSET: But it seems that is precisely the idea.

This may give us the answer to the question of why the Arroyo administration insists on the French bridges that cost 2.5 times more than the regular spans being built by other foreign contractors.

As the Arroyo administration has only two years to go, some people seem to be in a hurry. Never mind if the DPWH and the DAR, doing nothing but bridges will have a hard time absorbing all that work load in two years.

What is important to some people is to sign the contracts, get the work started and have the usual commissions collected. (Who was it with NEDA, btw, who said that the going rate is at least 20 percent?)

The French program is so bloated that it has to be stretched to 2012! The hapless president who succeeds Ms Arroyo will have nothing due from the French and may have to think of his own moneymaker.