Gov't projects jack up demand for cement

BAGUIO CITY -- The Dept. of Trade and Industry in Cordillera said the government's ongoing massive "Build, Build, Build" infrastructure program in the region is boosting the demand for cement and causing an apparent shortage in the construction commodity in the region.

 DTI Cordillera chief of Consumer Protection Division, lawyer Samuel Gallardo, said his office visited and inquired at the two cement manufacturing plants in La Union and in Pangasinan, where cement for Baguio and Benguet infrastructure projects come from.

This was amid reports of a shortage in cement products in the two Cordillera localities.

 Gallardo said the cement plants are conducting their usual preventive maintenance measures and manufacturing is normal.

 While the demand for cement products usually goes up during the dry season and December, the "Build, Build, Build" projects of the government, such as roads and retaining walls in this highland region, are making the demand unusually high.

 “This year would be a little different because there are more government projects being undertaken. So, apart from the activities during the dry months of the year, talagang maraming pangangailangan (the demand is high) for the 'Build, Build, Build' program,” Gallardo stressed. “Iyon yung dahilan kung bakit tumaas ang demand for cement (That is the reason the demand for cement has increased)."

Gallardo said it is not up to the DTI to determine a real shortage. “That will be up to the manufacturers to declare. Suffice it to say that both (cement) companies are earnest in fulfilling their commitments to their clients,” he added.

 "Although humahaba ang pila, at least nabibigyan pa rin yung pumipila (Although there is queuing, at least, those who line up still get their supply),” he said. -- PNA