By Benjamin Cuaresma
DAVAO CITY — The National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) raided a steel manufacturing facility in Barangay Ilang, Bunawan, Davao City, where authorities found radioactive isotopes in steel products and production materials and recovered reinforcing bars that failed required standards.
NBI Director Atty. Melvin Matibag led the operation on Thursday with the Presidential Anti-Organized Crime Commission (PAOCC) and other government and security agencies.
A total of 174 Filipino workers were rescued from the facility.
The operation stemmed from an NBI investigation into allegations that the plant manufactured and distributed substandard reinforcing steel bars. Authorities served a search warrant as part of the probe.
The PAOCC said technical examinations detected Uranium-238, Thorium-228, Thorium-232 and Radium-226 in different parts of the plant and at various stages of its operations.
The radioactive isotopes were documented in finished “DMS” rebars, furnace-related materials, residual black sand, industrial powders, dust, waste, wastewater and other production and stored materials.
The rescued workers were removed from an environment containing radioactive-bearing materials, dust, fumes, wastes and production residues.
The Philippine Nuclear Research Institute (PNRI) certified that the company operating the facility did not have a license to acquire, receive, possess, use, store, sell, transfer, import or export nuclear or radioactive materials, the PAOCC said.
An inspection by the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) also found that the company’s environmental compliance certificate did not authorize the handling, processing, storage or use of radioactive materials at the plant.
The recovered reinforcing steel bars were subjected to product-standard testing.
The PAOCC said four of eight samples, or 50 percent, purchased from commercial hardware establishments in different parts of Mindanao failed the mandatory mass-variation requirement under PNS 49:2020, the Philippine National Standard for reinforcing steel bars set by the Bureau of Philippine Standards.
NBI investigators also found “DMS”-marked reinforcing bars among the rubble of structures that collapsed during the magnitude 7.8 earthquake that struck Mindanao on June 8.
The PAOCC clarified that the discovery of DMS rebars in the collapsed structures does not by itself establish that the steel caused the structures to collapse.
The steel manufacturing company is a locally registered firm established in 2012.
The NBI and PAOCC have yet to publicly identify specific individuals as the company’s incorporators or owners.
Investigators are reviewing the company’s Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) filings to identify the listed incorporators, directors and majority stockholders.
The operation was conducted by the NBI in coordination with PAOCC Undersecretary Benjamin Acorda and other security forces.
ia/xf
