Senate minority leader Aquilino Pimentel III yesterday called on the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) to run after manufacturers and importers of substandard steel reinforcement bars or rebars and have their licenses suspended.
Pimentel made the statement yesterday following the discovery of substandard rebars by the Philippine Iron and Steel Institute (PISI) in Mindanao and in Northern Luzon.
“We should revoke their permits and tighten quality control measures to limit the importation of substandard rebars. The DTI and PISI should conduct nationwide test-buy operations and crack down on manufacturers, sellers and importers. Someone should be held accountable so that manufacturers and importers will not imitate them,” Pimentel said.
Pimentel said sale of low-quality construction materials pose a serious threat to public safety.
“The use of these low-quality construction materials could compromise the structural integrity of construction projects such as private houses that use substandard rebars,” he added.
Pimentel said the government, especially the Department of Public Works and Highways must ensure no substandard rebars or construction materials are used in infrastructure projects, especially in the construction of public roads, bridges, schools, and buildings.
In recent test-buy operation conducted from hardware stores in Davao del Sur, Davao del Norte, Maguindanao, Lanao del Sur, Lanao del Norte, Zamboanga del Norte, Samal Island, Cotabato City, Pagadian City, and Iligan City between September 9 and 13, they found rebars in Mindanao failed to meet the minimum standard for weight and are prone to brittleness.
They also found out that Northern Luzon is flooded with substandard rebars.
“The steel industry had found substandard rebars in random test buys in Mindanao last September, just a few weeks after finding the same problem in its July test buys in Northern Luzon,” PISI said in a statement.
“Based on the information gathered from the test buys, the inferior rebars are enough to build more than 10,000 houses per month, putting at risk up to 30,000 people,” PISI said.
