Samal bridge restructuring clears the Cabinet's investment committee, leaving the President's council and a June 2028 promise

What the committee approved

The ICC Cabinet Committee, co chaired by Finance Secretary Frederick D. Go, approved the restructuring of the ongoing Samal Island Davao City Connector project at its meeting on October 22 and endorsed it the same day to the Economic Development Council. The council, chaired by the President, is the last stop before revised terms take effect. The Department of Finance first mentioned the approval in a social media post on Tuesday, October 27, and published a statement on October 28.

"By improving connectivity between Davao City and Samal Island, we are supporting local businesses and creating more opportunities for communities," Go said in the statement. Representatives of the Office of the Executive Secretary, the Department of Economy, Planning and Development, the Department of Budget and Management, the Department of Energy and the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas attended the meeting.

The statement describes the project but not the restructuring. It does not say whether the revised arrangement changes the cost, the loan terms, the contractor's scope or the completion date. Context.ph noted that the 2026 Budget of Expenditures and Sources of Financing lists the project at 23.04 billion pesos and that the announcement left open whether that figure moves.

The bridge by the numbers

The finance department describes a four lane, toll free bridge 4.76 kilometers long, running from the junction of R. Castillo Street and the Daang Maharlika in Davao City to the Samal Circumferential Road. It is designed for about 25,000 vehicles a day. BusinessMirror, reporting from the same statement, gave a main span of 275 meters with 47 meters of vertical clearance, a marine crossing of 1.62 kilometers and twin pylons rising 73 meters above sea level.

The department says the crossing will take about five minutes against 30 to 50 minutes by ferry today. Earlier reports gave the length as 3.98 kilometers. The two figures appear to describe the bridge structure and the full alignment with its approaches, although the department did not explain the difference.

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 the 19.32 billion peso design and build contract held by China Road and Bridge Corporation. The loan carries 2 percent annual interest over 20 years, including a seven year grace period. The Department of Public Works and Highways implements the project.

Reporting on the total cost does not agree. PortCalls put the project at 20.8 billion pesos, Manila Bulletin at 23.5 billion, the budget document at 23.04 billion and SunStar Davao at 20 billion in July. Astig.ph pointed out that the finance department gave no figure at all, so none of those numbers can be tied to the restructured deal.

Progress, money and the 2028 target

DPWH Davao spokesperson Dean Ortiz put physical accomplishment at 61.334 percent as of June 25, slightly ahead of schedule, and the regional office reported about 62 percent as of July. Full construction began only in May 2024 after right of way disputes, and the completion date moved from August 2027 to September 2028.

Money has been the constraint this year. The regional office asked for 4.86 billion pesos for 2026 and received 314 million under the General Appropriations Act, and it has asked for a supplemental release. In early October Jubahib, who chairs the Regional Development Council, said government equity may be needed to finish the project, after Economy, Planning and Development Secretary Arsenio Balisacan confirmed the 2028 timeline to him.

On October 27, the first day of the Mindanao Development Forum at Dusit Thani Davao, Jubahib told reporters the bridge would be finished before the President steps down in June 2028, MindaNews reported. That matches the pledge Dizon made on July 23 after an aerial inspection. "I am assuring the people of Davao, the people of Samal that we will finish it before the end of the President's term," Dizon said then, adding that engineers had convinced him the bridge could open earlier than the end of 2028 first projected.

The official completion date remains September 2028, three months after the presidential term ends on June 30, 2028. Ortiz said in July that the date could still move depending on funding.

A new secretary inherits the promise

The pledge now sits with a different secretary. On Monday, October 26, the President ordered Dizon back to the Department of Transportation and moved Transportation Secretary Giovanni Lopez to public works. Presidential Communications Office Acting Secretary Lino Cayetano quoted the President: "We are shifting gears to accelerate reform. Secretary Dizon goes to DoTr to fix the daily commute. Secretary Lopez goes to DPWH to make sure the reforms there last."

Lopez, a lawyer and accountant, had been a transportation undersecretary before taking the top post when Dizon left for public works in September 2025 after Manuel Bonoan resigned over the flood control scandal. Dizon's acting appointment at public works had lapsed a few weeks before the swap, because the Administrative Code limits acting designations to one year. Cayetano said the move was not political and had nothing to do with the Commission on Appointments or survey ratings.

Lopez takes over a department whose Davao regional office is under investigation. The National Bureau of Investigation asked the Department of Justice on October 13 to prosecute 21 people over flood control contracts in Davao City's first district, a case Mindanao Live has followed separately. He has not spoken publicly about the Samal bridge since the swap.

What Samal is preparing for

Jubahib said in October that the province and the Island Garden City of Samal are planning for the traffic the bridge will bring. The plans include widening the island's circumferential road from two lanes to four with sidewalks and drainage, and a study of a central sewage and wastewater treatment plant to avoid the marine pollution seen in other island destinations. He said power, once the island's weakest point, improved after Davao Light and Power Company delivered 50 megawatts through a submarine cable.

The project still carries an environmental case. The Supreme Court issued a writ of kalikasan against it in July 2025 after petitioners argued construction was damaging the Paradise Reef off Samal, and the Court of Appeals in Cagayan de Oro denied a temporary environmental protection order on July 10, 2025. Construction continued.

For now the ferry schedule is the practical fact. The barge between Sasa in Davao City and Babak on Samal runs around the clock, and passenger boats leave Sta. Ana Wharf for Kaputian and Talicud. The things to watch next are the Economic Development Council's decision, whether the 2027 budget carries more for the bridge than the 314 million pesos of 2026, and whether the new secretary repeats the June 2028 commitment.