Substandard steel bars found in quake-damaged buildings in Visayas

The Philippine Iron and Steel Institute (PISI) has discovered uncertified reinforcing steel bars (rebars) in the damaged structures in Leyte and Samar in the aftermath of the 6.5 magnitude earthquake that hit the area last month.

PISI said this in a letter dated July 28 and addressed to Trade Undersecretary Teodoro Pascua, head of the Consumer Protection Group of the Department of Trade and Industry.

“Our team visited Kananga, Palo, Ormoc City and Tacloban City in Leyte, and the town of Basey in Samar to check the concrete reinforcing steel bars used in the damaged structures and conducted random test buys on the hardware stores,” the letter read, a copy of which was sent to reporters yesterday.

There were three major findings from the investigation, first of which was that uncertified rebars “were found in several damaged structures.”

PISI also said that rebars with “marginal tensile strength” were found during the random test buy operation. The group added that they also found that rebars with a nine millimeter diameter, which was outside the specifications of the government-prescribed mandatory standards, were being sold in the market.

“The uncertified products that were found in the damaged structures and in the market were most likely imported and did not follow the Import Commodity Clearance procedures of the (DTI),” read the attached investigation report prepared by Joel T. Ronquillio, PISI vice president for technical affairs.

In assessing the integrity of buildings and structures, PISI said that it focused on the quality of construction material since this was either produced by member companies or imported by traders covered by the PNS Mandatory Standards.

“These rebars passed through the Bureau of Customs, most likely the Cebu Port, without the benefit of being inspected and tested. Considering that these earthquake-damaged areas will now start rebuilding, it is necessary to remove these dangerous rebars from the market,” the report said.

The group recommended that the DTI launch a regular market monitoring and standards enforcement in Leyte and Samar amid reconstruction projects along with a campaign to prevent more batches of uncertified imported rebars from entering the local market.