Raided steel plant in Misamis shutdown
CAGAYAN DE ORO CITY—The Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) has ordered the closure of Chinese-run Philippine Sanjia-Steel Corp. after radioactive materials were found within its 22.6-hectare facility at an economic zone in Misamis Oriental province.
According to experts from the Philippine Nuclear Research Institute (PNRI), they detected uranium-238, thorium-228 and thorium-232 from the imported scrap metals that the firm used to manufacture steel bars at its plant located in the government-owned Phividec Industrial Estate at Barangay Baluarte in Tagoloan town.
Lawyer Norlito Eneran, DENR assistant secretary for legal affairs and enforcement, said they cancelled the environmental compliance certificate (ECC) of Sanjia and issued a cease-and-desist order on the basis of the findings of the PNRI.
Eneran said they also fined the company P450,000 for alleged administrative violations.
Ma. Theresa Salabit, PNRI radiation safeguards and security specialist, said they detected uranium and thorium heavy metals in mounds of scrap metals believed to have been imported from China to manufacture steel bars.
She said they also found traces of such radioactive isotope materials “in the entire manufacturing process and the millions of finished steel bars” in the facility.
Salabit noted that two similar factories in Bulacan and Pampanga provinces in Luzon were previously shutdown after hazardous radioactive isotopes were discovered in their production lines.
“Sanjia uses the same outdated manufacturing process as the Bulacan and Pampanga factories that were shutdown,” she said.
According to the Bureau of Philippine Standards, the steel rebars and other steel products manufactured in the Sanjia facility were found to be substandard and “structurally risky.”
Sourced from Japan
But lawyer Julia Chu, Sanjia’s counsel and spokesperson, denied that the company uses contaminated and illegal nuclear waste from China, noting that their raw materials have been certified to be sourced from Japan.
In a statement, the Presidential Anti-Organized Crime Commission (PAOCC) said an interagency inspection was done at the Sanjia compound on Wednesday “to determine possible violations affecting public safety, environmental protection, labor standards, hazardous waste management” and other regulations.
Undersecretary Benjamin Acorda Jr., PAOCC executive director, said the presence of radioactive materials in Sanjia’s premises “falls outside the scope of the company’s hazardous waste generator registration.”
“This constitutes a violation of Condition 6 of (its) ECC” and of Republic Act No. 6969, or the Toxic Substances and Hazardous Nuclear Wastes Control Act of 1990, he added.
Earlier, Acorda said that during case buildup in the run-up to applying for a search warrant, their agents discovered that the Chinese workers were provided specialized protective gear, while locals were not given the equivalent protection.
Earlier reports showed that businessman Tony Yang, the brother of Michael Yang, who served as an economic adviser to former President Rodrigo Duterte, was among Sanjia’s incorporators and chief stockholders.
But Joseph Donato, Phividec Industrial Authority general manager, said the most recent general information sheet of Sanjia no longer reflected Tony Yang as among the steel manufacturing plant’s owners.
Tony Yang was arrested in September 2024 for alleged involvement in illegal Philippine offshore gaming operators and for falsifying his identity to conceal his Chinese nationality.
Health check
The Department of Health in the Northern Mindanao region had scheduled medical checkups on Thursday for over 300 local Sanjia employees in Tagoloan to determine if they had been affected by the hazardous materials.
Defense Secretary Gilberto Teodoro Jr., whose office had supervisory control over the Phividec Industrial Estate, noted that many local employees were working without radiation protective suits and were unaware of the dangerous environment.
Teodoro arrived here on Wednesday, the second time in less than a month, along with other government officials, to give an update on the investigation against Sanjia.
On May 15, the PAOCC and the National Bureau of Investigation raided the Sanjia facility and arrested 69 Chinese nationals for alleged immigration and labor law violations.
The Chinese Embassy in Manila had filed a diplomatic protest over the arrests.
Sixty-four of the arrested Chinese had been released owing to insufficient evidence.
