None other than President Benigno Aquino III inaugurated the 360-meter Ninoy Aquino Bridge in the Municipality of Tuao, Cagayan on August 18, 2014. P-Noy led the motorcade along the bridge with people lining up down the road to see him in person.

The President was joined in the motorcade by Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG) Secretary Mar A. Roxas, Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) Secretary Rogelio L. Singson, and Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA) Chair Atty. Francis N. Tolentino, Jr.

Secretary Manuel N. Mamba, the Presidential Adviser on Legislative Affairs who served as Mayor of Tuao from 1988-1995, spearheaded the inauguration of the bridge which now directly connects Tuao with the provinces of Kalinga and Apayao in the Cordillera Administrative Region (CAR).

The bridge, dubbed as the “gateway to the Cordillera and Ilocandia”, was named after the late Senator Benigno Aquino, Jr., who intervened in the passage of House Bill No. 908 in 1971 which sought the splitting of the Municipality of Tuao into two small towns.

The idea of directly connecting Tuao with CAR was a dream espoused by then Congressman Francisco K. Mamba, Sr. between 1992 and 1995 during his term at Congress to accelerate rural growth and development in Tuao and in neighboring Kalinga and Apayao. In 2004, this dream started to materialize when then President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo approved the construction of the bridge through the intervention of Atty. Francisco N. Mamba, Jr., who was then the Presidential Adviser for External Affairs. It was only five years later, however, that Phase I of the bridge construction finally commenced in 2009.

With the appointment of Sec. Mamba as head of the Presidential Legislative and Liaison Office (PLLO) under the Aquino administration in 2010, Phase II of the construction of the bridge started to pick up pace. In 2011, Phase III was finished and the bridge was eventually completed in 2012.

Today, the Ninoy Aquino Bridge facilitates the faster transport of both people and goods in the towns and municipalities it traverses. The bridge also crosses the Chico River, thus, will prevent economic activities in these areas to be hampered during the rainy season when the river swells.

Also included among those who witnessed the inauguration were some local chief executives, regional directors of various regional line agencies, heads of nongovernment organizations, and other local leaders.