THE Department of Trade and Industry regional office in Davao (DTI 11) has warned that it will intensify monitoring of the quality of building materials sold in hardware stores in the region.
“(Retailers) should be responsible also for what they are selling because we have a principle of last touch. They cannot justify by saying that the products were just supplied to them. Sila talaga dapat ang maging responsible na retailers,” DTI Regional Director Jinky Remitio told SunStar Davao Thursday, May 23, 2019.
She said, however, that there have been no cases yet of stores selling substandard or fake building materials in Davao City since 2018.
“Wala nami nakitaan nga mga stores nga nagabaligya og mga substandard. Dili pud na siya basta-basta kay muagi pa gyud na sila og process until proven guilty so for this year, wala pa gyud list sa mga nag-violate (We have not monitored any hardware stores that sell substandard materials yet. Also, it is not that easy since it will go through a process before proven guilty. So for this year, we do not have a list of violations yet),” Remitio said.
The agency has been disseminating information on the risks posed by substandard or fake building materials, such as steel and cement, as part of their regular inspection in the city.
Remitio said if a hardware store will be proven to have been selling substandard materials, the products will be confiscated and each product will have an administrative fine of a minimum of P25,000.
Meanwhile, she said consumers also have the obligation to check the Philippine Standard (PS) mark or Import Commodity Clearance (ICC) sticker on the products that they are purchasing to ensure that the products have passed the safety and performance tests.