THE Philippine Iron and Steel Institute (PISI) said it has identified unmarked and substandard steel bars following a monitoring mission in central and northern Luzon.
The industry group said that its monitoring team found steel bars with either no markings or unregistered logos in Pampanga and La Union in October.
It added that recent tests on steel products manufactured by Davao Mighty Steel Corp. determined that the goods were non-compliant with safety standards, PISI said in a statement Saturday. Its 12 millimeter rebar products were deficient in terms of mass variation, while its 10 millimeter steel rebars passed tests conducted by the Metals Industry Research and Development Center.
“Needless to say, we are troubled by this occurrence (and) persistent menace,” PISI President Ronald Magsajo said in a letter to the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI).
He added that more unmarked and untraceable bars could be present in other regions.
“We cannot overemphasize the dangers posed to lives and property by having noncompliant, untraceable bars in the market,” he said.
The group last month flagged substandard rebar in Central Luzon, which failed to meet mass variation, bending, lug height and diameter, and tensile and yield strength standards.
The DTI last year said it would investigate the proliferation of substandard steel after legislators observed damage to buildings caused by the earthquakes in Mindanao. The Bureau of Customs is also monitoring imported steel bars. The Bureau of Philippine Standards in March approved the Philippine National Standard 49:2020 Steel bars for concrete reinforcement – Specification.
The DTI allows the domestic distribution of deformed steel bars, rerolled steel bars and equal leg angle steel bars if these products come from plants certified by the Bureau of Philippines Standards. — Jenina P. Ibañez
