Manila, May 30 -- The Eastern Visayas Regional Disaster Risk Reduction Management Council (RDRRMC) is optimistic that President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. will approve the recommendation to place the entire region under a state of calamity due to the three-ton load limit imposed on the weakened San Juanico Bridge.

RDRRMC chair Lord Byron Torrecarion said the declaration will allow regional line agencies and local government units to immediately address concerns arising from the limited access of the vital bridge that links Leyte and Samar provinces.

"It will help the region respond right away to the needs of people using the bridge and find ways to maintain the volume of traffic and do repair of the bridge as well," Torrecarion told the Ph...