The Philippine Iron and Steel Institute said over the weekend substandard concrete reinforcing steel bars (rebars) used primarily for the construction of homes were being sold in several hardware stores in Baguio City, Benguet, Mountain Province, and Ifugao.
The institute conducted market monitoring and “test buy” in 12 hardware stores in the northern Luzon provinces early this year. It confirmed with the Metals Industry Research and Development Center that substandard rebars were proliferating in these Cordillera provinces, with many steel bars found to be underweight, with low elongation or undersized.
Four stores were found to be selling substandard rebars made by Wan Chiong Steel, which was suspended by the Department of Trade and Industry in late 2018.
Wan Chiong’s 16 mm steel bars sold in a hardware store in La Trinidad, Benguet were found to be underweight and lacked the standard length.