FOR a country considered one of the most vulnerable to natural disasters and adverse effects of climate change, one can expect that the Philippines would have the most stringent standards when it comes to the quality of construction materials and engineering practices. Twenty typhoons, some of which are super typhoons, lay waste to cities and towns of our country annually on the average. Super typhoons as strong as Yolanda are expected to be the new norm in destructive power. Murderous floods, similar to Sendong and Ondoy, will be more frequently drowning cities along the rivers and coastlines as a tragic consequence of the loss of forest cover in the mountain highlands.
Exactly a week ago, a 7.8 magnitude earthquake violently shook General Santos City, Davao City and the neighboring provinces, cities and towns in Mindanao. When we visited General Santos City with our team from One Meralco Foundation to extend relief operations by giving food, water, temporary shelters and medicine to earthquake victims, we observed the debris of collapsed buildings, homes and institutions. Two of the biggest malls, SM and KCC, suffered significant damage to their structures which may have rendered such huge buildings unsafe for people to enter again. Sadly, the hospitals suffered substantial damage as well.
By the grace of God, the early morning timing of the tremor saved hundreds if not thousands of people from being crushed by collapsing buildings. When the quake struck, the young students were out of their school buildings to hold the flag-raising ceremony. Had the quake happened when the school children were already in their classrooms, many children might have been crushed, not only by the falling debris, but also by the stampede caused by the panic of everyone. At this time also, the malls had yet to open. Thus, when the mall buildings began shaking and debris started falling, there were very few people inside the malls. A more grim scenario would have unfolded had the malls been packed by morning shoppers when the quake struck.
While the frequency of earthquakes is an accepted occurrence in our country, what creates more anxiety among us is the recent statement by the Philippine Iron and Steel Institute (PISI) that substandard non-seismic steel abounds in the Philippine market. PISI noted that the recent collapse of a nine-story building in Pampanga, without any earthquake occurrence, may have been caused by the use of these unsafe steel rebars. Substandard steel significantly increases the extent of damage during the earthquake. This kind of unsafe steel reduces structural strength and has lower load bearing capacity. It leads to premature cracking of concrete. Substandard steel is more brittle as it has lower ductility and can therefore snap easily during tremors. It has poorer energy absorption which cannot absorb sufficiently the seismic energy generated by an earthquake. Because of poor surface ribs and irregular dimensions, substandard and non-seismic steel leads to weaker bond with concrete.
The widespread use of substandard and non-seismic steel in our quake-prone country has reached an alarming proportion. It endangers public safety in a national scale. In early 2025, industry-led tests discovered that all 21 sampled steel bars (100 percent) failed the basic quality standards expected of these steel bars. The prevalence of substandard steel across Luzon, Visayas and Mindanao should quickly spur government regulators into action. The problem is national in scope. According some news reports, some products resulted in deviations of up to minus -19.98. These products were dangerously underweight and structurally weaker. A 100 percent failure rate means these substandard products are commonly sold in the retail markets. It is believed that around 3 million metric tons of substandard steel are being peddled in the market which is a volume enough to supply the substantial portion of the construction sector, including mass housing and public infrastructure.
The call of the PISI for stricter government regulations to stop substandard steel from being sold to innocent public consumers must be supported aggressively. Thousands of lives and billions of infrastructure are at stake because of this unsafe product being peddled in the market. We cannot afford for this call to fall on deaf ears for literally this will cost all of us our lives and limbs.
Public outrage must force businesses to conduct themselves more ethically. Greed, literally in this case, kills people. Criminal profiteering out of selling substandard products such as steel must stop. We must hold these unethical businesses accountable. As these products are sold publicly, consumer vigilance can help by reporting these construction stores and sellers to the authorities for defrauding consumers and putting the public at risk. But the government must police and enforce compliance by strictly monitoring and stop the smuggling and peddling of this substandard steel. We are glad that the PISI had the courage to blow the whistle on this. The government must not only listen but must also act immediately.