PRESIDENT Ferdinand Marcos Jr. vowed Monday that the government will continue to probe the proliferation of substandard construction materials to weed out illegal supply chains and prevent structural disasters.
This comes after the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) raided the facility of Davao Mighty Steel Corp. in August, where authorities found substandard steel bars and unlicensed, hazardous radioactive materials.
Speaking with reporters after the 18th Brics Summit in India, Marcos said substandard materials for construction started to come in 2018.
“When it comes to steel, that’s very dangerous because... if you cannot trust your building materials, you cannot trust the building,” said Marcos.
He noted that the government will continue to investigate the matter and ensure that no substandard materials will be used for the construction of government facilities, noting that the problem may be bigger than the government thought.
“It’s probably like the POGO (Philippine offshore gaming operation) situation — when we finally cracked down on them, we were all surprised to discover just how massive their operations had become. I don’t think this will be quite that bad, but it is bigger than most people realize,” he said in Filipino.
While contractors may have adhered to engineering specifications, Marcos pointed out that oversight lapses among factory inspectors likely allowed uncertified steel to leave manufacturing plants without passing rigorous quality standards.
“We will likely uncover more because our search is continuous,” the president said.
To prevent further damage to public infrastructure, Marcos called for stricter factory-level inspections and tighter regulatory enforcement across the construction sector.
During his trip in India, the country formally joined the Coalition for Disaster Resilient Infrastructure (CDRI), a coalition of countries aimed at strengthening the infrastructure against climate hazards.
He also discussed with representatives of Rail India Technical and Economic Service Ltd. (Rites) the possibility of participating in three major railway projects in the country, namely the Mindanao Railway, Cebu Mass Transit, and Philippine National Railways (PNR) South Long Haul.