Philcemcor backs DTI probe of adulterated cement

The Philippine Cement Manufacturers Corp. (Philcemcor) reiterated yesterday its full support to the investigation being conducted by the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) on adulterated Portland cement reportedly being sold in the markets of Southern Luzon and National Capital Region (NCR).

In a statement, Philcemcor president Rico Alfiler said that the association and its members will make their laboratories and testing facilities available to the DTI for purposes of determining whether slag, a waste product from the manufacture of steel, is being added to Portland cement by certain local producers.

"We appreciate the prompt attention the DTI has given to this matter and we want to offer our technical resources to the government and to work together to ensure that consumers obtain a consistently pure Portland cement that adheres to national standards," said Alfiler.

A number of Philcemcor member companies have received complaints from retailers, masons, contractors and homebuilders about the alleged substandard Portland cement manufactured by Lucky Cement and Goodfound Cement.

In view of mounting complaints, Alfiler said that it is the group’s responsibility to also do something about the reports.

"The facts also are that microscopic laboratory analyses conducted by our member companies have confirmed the existence of slag in the Portland cements manufactured by Lucky and Goodfound," he added. "Don’t call it Portland Cement if it’s not Portland cement," explained Alfiler.

He added that Philcemcor is prepared to work with DTI at the provincial and regional levels as well as with its Manila-based Bureau of Product Standards (BPS) to ensure that their member-companies’ facilities and technical expertise on cement are available to the agency.

"I think this is a great example of industry and government working together for the benefit of consumers," Alfiler said. "We are a hunded percent behind DTI on this because it is our responsibility and duty to work with the government to ensure that consumers are not cheated and this is exactly what we want to accomplish here in effective and efficient manner."

The DTI earlier reported that it was gathering samples of cements made by Lucky and Goodfound for testing but it said that the BPS does not have the capability to test the presence of slag as it is not a standard procedure. This prompted Philcemcor to make its labs and the labs of its member companies available to the government.