On behalf of the Isinay communities and concerned citizens in Dupax Sur, Nueva Vizcaya, we urgently seek protection for the 196-year old Dampol Arc Bridge in Dupax Sur, Nueva Vizcaya. The bridge is now being threatened by an ongoing road construction and widening by the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH)-Nueva Vizcaya 2nd District Engineering Office. This is an important historical and cultural landmark in Dupax, and we hope to protect it from demolition, to preserve and declare it as a national cultural heritage.

Built in 1818 by Spanish Fray Francisco Rocamora, the Dampol Arc Bridge is a single-arched brick bridge that spans the Abanatan creek that divides Barrangays Dumang and Dopaj, and one of the few remaining historic landmarks in the area. The early Isinays along with indigenous groups living in the old Ituy area built this manually.  Native hands crafted the red colored brick from an old adobe workshop near the St. Vincent Ferrer Church in a small town in Dupax during the time when Padre Rocamora was vicar. The bridge connects Dupax from other nearby towns to facilitate the transport of people and products for trade in horse-driven carts during the earlier period. It has remained as one of the oldest tangible icon for the Dupax community.

DPWH-Nueva Vizcaya regard the Dampol Bridge as part of the national highway, and as such are entitled to carry out construction that would entail digging and bridge excavation destroying the very foundation of the bridge. Although we see this construction as part of development, however not to the detriment of a heritage site valued by many people.

The Isinay community is pleading for your kind support to help save this important cultural heritage.  This indiscriminate and blatant disregard for historical and cultural heritage hurts us. We hope and pray that the Dampol Bridge will be preserved, not only for the Dupax, but also as part of the Filipino national heritage.