Government urged to tighten rules on cement imports

MANILA, Philippines - An anti-graft watchdog urged the government yesterday to strictly enforce the rules governing importation of cement to prevent the entry of substandard cement into the domestic market.

The Center for Anti-graft and Corruption Inc. (Center) issued the call following reports that cement imports have been making inroads in the local market without passing through sample testing and other processes prescribed by the Department of Trade and Industry through the Philippine National Standards (PNS).

Center spokesman Lane Afable said this not only undermines the integrity of the local construction, but also puts public safety in grave danger.

“Public safety should never be compromised in favor of business profits. We really have to put more teeth to existing rules on cement importation which seemed inadequate or lame in curbing technical smuggling,” Afable said.

“Last month we experienced shortage in cement supply. We now have imports, but of what quality? We cannot compromise the safety of our people with these untested cement products,” Afable said.

He pointed out that cement products made in Vietnam and Taiwan have found their way into sales and distribution outlets in the Philippines, notably in Metro Manila, without prior clearance from the DTI-PNS.

He claimed that the unidentified importer “opted to cut corners with the government, and deliberately ignored the preconditions governing cement importation.”

“Admittedly, we don’t have the unassailable evidence as yet, but that does not preclude us from presuming that the hasty release of the cement shipments from Customs warehouses was attended by dubious transactions,” Afable said, adding that they intend to dig deeper into the anomaly.

Early on, the DTI relaxed the rules on cement importation, including the lifting of tariff, in a bid to rein in prices of the construction material.

Industry observers noted, however, that the downstream effects of the zero-tariff policy were hardly felt by the consumers, but created an uneven playing field in the domestic market.

Worse, the no-tariff rule made the Philippine market vulnerable to substandard cement to the detriment of contractors, infrastructure developers and the consuming public at large.