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Cops, DTI, industry group start drive vs substandard steel bars
CRIMINAL Investigation and Detection Group (CIDG) agents, assisted by technical experts provided by the Philippine Iron and Steel Institute (Pisi), raided two retailers of substandard steel products in Bulacan last week.
The raid marked the start of a campaign against substandard construction products initiated by the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI).
Armed with search warrants, the CIDG raiding team confiscated contraband steel products from Youcheng Trading in San Jose del Monte and Golden Lucky Construction Supply in Marilao. The two retailers were the subject of several complaints from consumers and local steel manufacturers for allegedly selling inferior products. Structures built using inferior steel products could easily collapse during earthquakes or extreme weather conditions.
Several tons of inferior reinforcement bars and angle bars were confiscated from the two retailers. The products failed quality tests and were found to have counterfeit product markings. The confiscated inferior steel products fall way below the locally enforced standards for such products.
Earlier, the DTI-Bulacan, headed by Rhine Aldana intensified, the department's campaign against illegal, uncertified and substandard steel products in the province.
As part of the campaign, Aldana said hardware store owners were given seminars, oriented on the proper way to detect substandard steel products and were encouraged to strictly comply with the rules and regulations, as mandated by the Bureau of Product Standards.
"Given the recent tragedy in Bohol and Cebu, and considering that construction season normally starts in October, we believe that the continued sale of uncertified and substandard steel products poses a grave threat to the lives and limbs of our countrymen," Pisi President Roberto Cola said.
Cola recently requested the DTI to launch an intensive nationwide market monitoring and enforcement of construction materials pursuant to DTI Administrative Order 2, Series of 2002. The industry association requested that the earthquake-affected provinces of Bohol and Cebu be given priority as there are a lot of reconstruction activities there.
"The Pisi will be more than willing to provide a team of technical experts and logistical support for this campaign. It is our belief that a massive market monitoring and enforcement campaign will minimize, if not eliminate, this threat," Cola said in his letter.
Cola welcomed the raids conducted on unscrupulous retailers of construction materials. Stronger enforcement of product standards becomes a more urgent task considering the major reconstruction effort for Bohol and Cebu, which were hit by a devastating earthquake, as well as Samar and Leyte areas that suffered the wrath of Superyphoon Yolanda (international code name Haiyan). Stronger government enforcement is needed to protect end-users victimized by unscrupulous traders peddling smuggled, substandard and uncertified products, he said.