Substandard steel bars (rebars) have been found in various provinces in northern Luzon in random test buys conducted by the Philippine Iron and Steel Institute (PISI).
PISI said it bought 33 samples from 16 hardware stores late last month in Pampanga, Nueva Ecija, Tarlac, Pangasinan, La Union, Ilocos Sur, Ilocos Norte, Cagayan, Isabela, and Nueva Vizcaya and had them tested for compliance with the Philippine National Standard for rebar.
PISI said 13 samples failed to meet the minimum standard requirements for mass variation and elongation. These findings were confirmed in tests conducted by the Bureau of Philippine Standards (BPS) Testing Laboratory in Cavite.
PISI president Ronald Magsajo said the group is closely coordinating with the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) Fair Trade Group and DTI Regional Operations Group on a nationwide awareness campaign on steel standards.
“Public safety is a major issue here. PISI is coordinating with DTI Consumer/Regional Operations Group and various government agencies to address this problem” Magsajo said.
The PISI provides DTI information and technical know-how to support their initiative to enforce, confiscate and to do product recall of all non-conforming and substandard steel products, Magsajo added.
