San Juanico Bridge

The longest bridge in the Philippines may be named after San Juanico Strait but pray tell, where did the strait get its name? Who is San Juanico?   A check among the roster of Catholic Saints came up with negative results.   Of course, San Juanico must be a variant of San Juan.  But which of the many San Juans? Is it John of the Cross, the national personification of Filipinos as “Juan de la Cruz”? Or Saint John Lateran after the little ship “San Juan de Letran” of the Villalobos expedition of 1543-1545?  My guess is St. John the Baptist as a little boy; Juanico as well as the more popular Juanito are Spanish derivatives of Juan, just as the English Johnnie is really Little John.  

San Juanico Strait is a narrow channel separating Samar from Leyte, reputed to be the narrowest in the world.   The San Juanico Bridge has a total length of 2.16 kilometers and has 43 spans and allowing medium size boats to pass.  One foot of the bridge is at Santa Rita and the other at Tacloban, Samar.  San Juanico Bridge was built in 1969 and completed in 1973.  Folks from both sides of the strait, claim of a legendary mermaid that rules the strait and has threatened to use her powers to protest construction of the bridge.    As construction progressed, it was rumored that the mermaid allowed the activity to go on after receiving blood sacrifices.  Padugo is a traditional spilling of some animal blood by construction workers.  During mobilization of a project, some animal is slaughtered and the blood is sprinkled on the equipment on the belief that that would prevent any ghost.  

Still, rumors persist that some children that mysteriously disappeared have been offered to the mermaid as a ransom for the construction to be finished.  This legend has raised some hesitation for people to cross the bridge on foot, but it has not deterred many a visitor to experience crossing the bridge on foot. My friend Susan Jacobs walked that bridge when she last visited the Philippines and many like Susan profess the joy and satisfaction of crossing the bridge.  I say, let’s cross the bridge when we reach it.