Consumer group confirms presence of adulterated cement

A consumer watchdog group confirmed yesterday reports about the proliferation of adulterated and substandard cement in the market after receiving similar complaints from consumers and retail outlets.

The Movement for Consumer Power (MCP) said that it already relayed the complaints to the Bureau of Product Standards (BPS) of the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) to act on the reports.

Lawyer Agnes Devanadera, MCP president, said their phone lines have been recently flooded with calls from hardware stores and cement end-users about the differences in the workability of Portland cement manufactured by Lucky Cement in Batangas and Goodfound Cement (marketed as Mayon Cement) in Bicol.

That, she said, prompted them to report the matter to the DTI in order to conduct its own inquiry.

"We have notified the DTI’s Bureau of Product Standards of the calls and concerns we have received," said Devanadera. "We have made inquiries for various sources and it is suggested that the two companies may be diluting their Portland cement with a steel waste product called slag."

"This looks like another case of a manufacturer ‘watering-down’ their product to bring down costs at the expense of consumers," she said. "MCP has been monitoring various products for such abuses and cement is on our watchlist."

"In the past, we have seen this done with LPG, with rice mixed with pebbles, vinegar and soy sauce and other condiments diluted with water," Devanadera explained.

Members of the cement industry earlier reported that in their laboratory analyses it yielded positive result on the presence of slag additives to the Portland cement produced by Lucky Cement and Goodfound Cement.

Slag is a waste product from the steel manufacturing process, normally imported from Japan, that when added to Portland cement causes it to lose its purity and results in changes in its workability, its color, and the consistency of its performance.

The two brands of cement were reportedly being sold in some provinces across Southern Luzon.

"We want to ensure that consumers are not cheated and we are ready to assist the DTI in its investigation of substandard cements," Devanadera said.