Students walk on steel cable to go to school

DIADI, Nueva Vizcaya — The hanging bridge that connects the villages of Latbang and Pinayag in Kayapa, Nueva Vizcaya was destroyed by the onslaught of Typhoon Pepito in November 2024.

Only the steel cables of the bridge remained and residents use it to cross the river below.

Thanks to a video that went viral on social media, the town’s local leaders have vowed to build a new bridge.

The bridge has gained notoriety after a video posted by Pinayag National High School teacher Glory Madawat-Smith on Sunday went viral on social media.  

In the video, students walk like acrobats on a tightrope on a steel cable and hold on to a rope and another cable line just to cross the river one by one.

The teacher said community leaders had built a makeshift wooden bridge but was also destroyed after the river swelled.

The viral video caught the attention of Kayapa officials who promised to build a new bridge the soonest possible time to also help farmers bring their goods to the market.

Dr. Orlando Manuel, Nueva Vizcaya schools’ division superintendent, meanwhile, told reporters that students from the other side of the river were advised not to force themselves to go to school when the water level is high because they can study through modular learning.

Manuel said that the possibility of converting the elementary school in Latbang village in Kayapa into an integrated school is being pushed so that students in Pinayag do not have to cross the river to go to school.

“That is one possible thing to do, let’s build an integrated school in Latbang, we will evaluate that with our district supervisor in the Kayapa area to include high school in the elementary school, that is one of the long-term plans that can be done,” he said.

Considered as one of the remote villages with a school in Nueva Vizcaya, Manuel said many students walk for hours just to attend class.

”And it gets difficult when it rains,” he said.