page_title: Ferdinand Marcos
section_title: San Juanico Bridge
hierarchical_section_title: Ferdinand Marcos / Legacy / Infrastructure and edifices / San Juanico Bridge
caption_attribution_description: English: The San Juanico Bridge connecting Leyte and Samar Deutsch: Die San-Juanico-Brücke, welche die beiden philippinischen Inseln Samar und Leyte miteinander verbindet. Gesehen von Samar aus.
context_page_description: Ferdinand Emmanuel Edralin Marcos Sr. was a Filipino politician and kleptocrat who was the tenth President of the Philippines from 1965 to 1986. A leading member of the New Society Movement, he ruled as a dictator under martial law from 1972 until 1981. One of the most controversial leaders of the 20th century, Marcos' rule was infamous for its corruption, extravagance, and brutality.
  Marcos claimed an active part in World War II, including fighting alongside the Americans in the Bataan Death March and being the "most decorated war hero in the Philippines". A number of his claims were found to be false and United States Army documents described Marcos's wartime claims as "fraudulent" and "absurd."
  Marcos started as an attorney, then served in the Philippine House of Representatives from 1949 to 1959 and the Philippine Senate from 1959 to 1965. He was elected president in 1965, and presided over a growing economy during the beginning and intermediate portion of his 20-year rule, but ended in loss of livelihood, extreme poverty, and a crushing debt crisis.
context_section_description: The San Juanico Bridge is part of the Pan-Philippine Highway and links the provinces of Leyte and Samar through Tacloban City and Santa Rita, Samar. Having a total length of 2.16 kilometres (1.34 mi), it is the longest bridge over a body of water in the Philippines. It is said to be Ferdinand Marcos's gift to his wife Imelda, whose hometown was Leyte.
  Construction of the bridge began in 1969. It was inaugurated on July 2, 1973, in time for Imelda Marcos's birthday. The cost of the construction reached $22 million and was acquired through the Japanese Official Development Assistance loans.
  At the time the project was conceived, there was not a need yet for a bridge that connects Leyte and Samar, for both of these provinces were still relatively underdeveloped. There was not enough traffic between these two islands to warrant a bridge to be constructed there. It is for this reason that the San Juanico Bridge remains to be the one of the costliest white elephant projects during the Marcos era.
caption: San Juanico Bridge connecting Leyte and Samar
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