PUENTE DE CAPRICHO

Puente de Capricho is the oldest bridge in the Philippines. It was a project of Spanish friar Victorino de Moral, a Franciscan priest of Majayjay in the 1850s. It is described as a huge unfinished stone bridge jutting out of Olla River. The bridge was meant to be a short cut to the town of Majayjay, Laguna.

The aborted bridge that Fray De Moral supervised in the ravines of the Olla River acquired descriptive tags, which became famous. To the ancestors and the people of Majayjay, the bridge was called “Tulay ng Pigi” ( Buttocks Bridge), to honor the ancestors who worked on the bridge and got whacked on their buttocks. Late comers for the job were given a dozen whacks with a paddle.

Government representatives sent by Spanish Governor General Urbiztondo filed a report which devastated the pride and honor of Fray De Moral. The report cited ignorance of scientific studies and engineering principles in the construction. The Manila authorities in Intramuros gave the bridge a mocking title Puente de Capricho.

The report strongly recommended the demolition of the bridge and construction of a new one based on proper project studies with engineering and architectural planning.

The bridge that was left unfinished still exists in the jungles of Majayjay, where it will always be called by natives as Tulay ng Pigi.

Puente de Capricho became such a buzzword in the social circles in Manila. In the early chapters of José Rizal’s novel, “El Filibusterismo,” the bridge was derisively mentioned by the Friar named Camorra to journalist Ben Zayb while traveling on a boat on Laguna de Bay.

The bridge and the Olla River have reached a kind of immortality in film. Some scenes of the great classic war movie Apocalypse Now starring Marlon Brando and Martin Sheen were shot here during the 1970s.

Unfortunately, the original wooden sections on each end of the bridge were blown up in the film. At present, both ends of the bridge are made of narrow concrete slabs which explain why it’s not a popular route.