Replacing ‘imported’/dengue alert

First the good news. Benjamin Yao, chairman and president of SteelAsia, recently announced that they have awarded the engineering, procurement and construction management of its Heavy Section Steel Project to MCC Huatian Engineering Technology Co. Ltd.

This is good news for the Philippines and the economy because the project is a pioneering project that will manufacture one million tons of structural steel: “H” and “I” beams, angle, channels, sheet piles, plates and other similar heavy profile or types of industrial steel products.

For those unfamiliar with the terms, the H beams and I beams are the structural steel components now being used as “posts” and beams for many modern buildings as well as structures that need to be built in the shortest time and at the lowest cost.

The traditional method of using round bars, forms and poured concrete takes too much time, tends to be labor intensive. With local production, the down time from shipment, customs and delivery are eliminated.

Aside from locally producing the much sought-after steel products, the local production will effectively end the country’s total dependence on imports from China, Vietnam, Thailand, Korea and Japan, resulting in a projected annual savings of $1.2 billion.

“For decades the Philippines has suffered, because we have had to import almost all steel products, and these new plants will give us the self-sufficiency our country needs. In a way, the Philippines is lucky for being late, because our country will have the most modern section mills in the world,” according to Benjamin Yao.

The production plant or Heavy Section project is a P30-billion investment that will be built in Candelaria, Quezon and expected to be operational by 2026. “The design and technology of the planned section mill will be a green steel facility with carbon footprint 90 percent lower than imported sections made from traditional steel making.”

“The equipment and design of the plant also focuses on the most efficient production to attain lowest cost and thereby create savings for the Philippine market.”

Over 7,000 jobs are expected to be made available because of the plant operations. In addition, delivery lead time to Philippine construction projects will also improve from three to four months (for imported steel) down to one to two weeks for the SteelAsia produced industrial steel products.

“This is a game changer for the Philippine construction industry and will help accelerate infrastructure construction,” Yao said.

MCC Huatian is the global leader and most experienced engineering company in building steel plants. Its track record of over 230 steel plant projects with a total installed capacity of over 200 million tons in 14 countries establishes MCC Huatian as the leader in steel project engineering, execution and management.

MCC Huatian also has the distinction of building China’s first and most of its section mills using technology from the leading European steel technology suppliers.

Yao stressed: “In steel manufacturing, you cannot compromise on technology and know-how. When we have the best suppliers and implementing partners, the Philippine builders will also get the best steel products. This philosophy has been the foundation of SteelAsia’s growth.”

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I hope you have not been bitten by mosquitoes, especially if you live in Quezon City, Baguio or Bacolod, just to name a few of the cities that have recently reported increased cases of dengue year-on-year or in comparison to January 2024.

What’s interesting is that all the information is coming from local governments and nothing from the Department of Health. This was discovered by an international speaker who mentioned in a recent training program that there is no available data on Philippine dengue cases with the WHO.

A source well versed in the DOH culture told me that it is unlikely to get any because the Philippines/DOH has opted to exercise their right to “do not publish,” so the WHO cannot make the data publicly available.

In the meantime, these latest reports of dengue cases prove that anyone claiming that dengue is a seasonal problem is incompetent or a purveyor of fake news. One of my friends who works at San Miguel Corporation just spent seven days in a major hospital in QC after she contracted dengue.

The Quezon City local government has advised residents to take care and be aware of the increasing number of dengue cases in the city. According to the report of the Quezon City Epidemiology and Surveillance Division, dengue cases have reached 561 cases from Jan. 8 to 21, 2025.

In Negros Occidental, our Philstar correspondent Gilbert Bayoran reported that the Provincial Health Office recorded 250 cases of dengue from Jan.1 to 18 with two deaths. That translates to a 296 percent increase in comparison to 2024 when there were only 63 cases. My media contacts in Baguio City have repeatedly written that dengue in Baguio City is now a year-round concern, and cases have increased year after year.

I personally find it worrisome that even before the first month of 2025 has ended, we already have a comparatively higher number of cases than January 2024. Given that approximately 1,000 Filipinos died and allegedly 421,000 others got dengue in 2024, what will we be facing in December 2025?

Meanwhile, the Food and Drug Administration still takes its time reviewing the Japanese-made vaccine that is already used by so many countries in our region as well as South America.

Maybe some time middle of this year, if the cases increase or people die like in 2024, a class action suit will be justified for the pain and suffering caused by negligence and willful delay for a vaccine.