THE Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) will intensify its drive against substandard building materials, including steel, under the Task Force Kalasag as construction activities pick up this coming dry season, DTI Secretary Cristina Roque said.
Roque, in a chance interview late Friday, also said construction materials have been included in the list of products prioritized for local procurement of government projects under the Tatak Pinoy Act.
She said she has asked the DTI’s Consumer Protection Group to come up with new ideas and programs to further strengthen its Kalasag campaign against substandard construction materials.
Roque’s statement comes after the agency reported on March 17 that the Task Force’s targeted monitoring and enforcement operation in early March in various locations resulted in the seizure of 20,815 units of non-compliant steel products and other items, with a total retail value of P1.44 million.
She said the amount is just the tip of the iceberg.
Roque added the DTI will put out a list of establishments found to have been selling substandard products to warn the public.
Roque also made this statement following the collapse of the Cabagan-Santa Maria bridge in Isabela on Feb. 27, 2025. Malaya Business Insight on March 27 reported that during a Senate hearing on March 26, Sen. Alan Peter Cayetano said the Department of Public Works and Highways had found the bridge defective.
Cayetano, the report said, questioned the quality of steel bars used in the bridge, pointing out that the smooth break indicated potential substandard materials.
“We’re going to strengthen our drive against substandard construction materials,” Roque said, adding that she has been meeting with the Fair Trade Enforcement Bureau and has asked its officers to come up with other ideas to catch those selling substandard products.
“We are on top of this,” Roque added.
Task Force Kalasag, an enforcement program of the DTI, has been given a budget of P356 million between 2024, the year when it was launched, to 2025, the DTI said in a message to reporters on Sunday.
The amount covers all products under technical regulations of the Bureau of Product Standards.
Roque said in the March 28 interview that construction materials from cement to reinforcing steel bars are also listed among the products for local procurement for government projects under the Tatak Pinoy Act.
The DTI on its website said the Tatak Pinoy Act or Republic Act No. 11981 signed into law by President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. on Feb. 26, 2024, targets to bolster the Philippines’ industrialization strategy.
Rule 11 of the implementing rules and rules and regulations of the law provides domestic preference in government procurement for materials, ingredients, supplies, or fixtures.
“We have to make sure that first, they’re compliant (to safety standards). And that they’re (made by) Filipino manufacturing companies. And thirdly, we have to make sure also that they really pass to the criteria of the Tatak Pinoy Law which has set a set of guidelines to qualify,” Roque said. #######
