|
Thursday, February 24, 2005
Thieves pilfer utility cables under bridge
THREE unidentified men went under the first Mandaue-Mactan Bridge to steal utility cables and fled on a waiting banca at the Mactan Channel below.
Policemen from the Opao Police Station and personnel from the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) went to the site and found only insulators of the cables.
They failed to catch any suspect.
Opao Police Station Chief Alberto Abing yesterday said the first report sent to them was about a person attempting to commit suicide on the bridge.
Insulators
It turned out to be a case of stolen cables.
DPWH personnel turned over the insulators to the policemen.
Abing said regular police patrols at the Petron depot and the two bridges linking Mactan to mainland Cebu are held every 30 minutes.
Wiring system
In a separate interview, engineer Gaudioso Maglasang of the fifth engineering district, said DPWH has redesigned the wiring system of the first Mandaue-Mactan Bridge.
These wiring system supports the lighting facilities of the bridge.
The wires are copper, which, according to Maglasang, is the best conductor of electricity next to silver.
Transfer
These wires used to be located under the roadlink, but after a series of thefts last year, DPWH decided to transfer the wires on the bridge.
Maglasang said the wires may not look good on the bridge but anyone trying to steal the wires will be seen.
There are other cables underneath the bridge but these belong to other utilities.
Maglasang received reports that copper wires cost around P130 a kilo in the black market.
This amount is a far cry from the P14,000 to P18,000 per roll of copper wire sold by legal suppliers.
A roll is around 150 meters. (AAG)
(February 24, 2005 issue)
Write letter to the editor.Click here.
Join the Sun.Star message board.Click here. |
|
[return to top]
[home]
[network page]
|
LOCAL NEWS
BUSINESS
OPINION
SPORTS
LIFESTYLE
FEATURE
SUPERBALITA
WEEKEND
|
