The National Housing Authority (NHA) has confirmed that it was incorrect in citing James Hardie’s “HardieFlex®” in ABS-CBN’s recent Failon Ngayon episode as the brand of fiber cement boards used in the wall system for the construction of substandard houses built for victims of Yolanda.
The said episode, which aired on November 5, 2016, focused on the various issues surrounding rehabilitation projects being undertaken in Tacloban, Leyte, and in other areas devastated by Super Typhoon Yolanda (international name: Haiyan) three years ago.
Interviewees wrongly cited HardieFlex® fiber cement as a construction material used in a Tacloban housing project called Ridge View Park, which was pioneered by the NHA.
James Hardie, a leading company in the building materials industry, regards the incident as a reaffirmation of the durability and high quality of the HardieFlex® fiber cement board, as it showed how the tried-and-tested product has become a recognized household name.
The trusted company now believes that the HardieFlex® products reputation as a market leader must have inadvertently caused the interviewees’ erroneous mention of it.
“We would like to emphasize that there is a major difference between authentic HardieFlex® fiber cement boards made by James Hardie and similar products used in its place,” Liza Alde, marketing manager of James Hardie, said in a statement.
Net Saysay, technical and product development manager of James Hardie Philippines, affirmed this, saying, “Substantial research and investment went into the development of HardieFlex® fiber cement products, giving them international renown for durability.”
“Because HardieFlex® fiber cement is a high-quality product, it has become a household name,” Alde pointed out. “Though we are gratified that the brand name has become top-of-mind among homeowners and has caused them to have high recall for the brand ‘HardieFlex®’, it is incorrect to refer to fiber cement boards in general as the James Hardie brand.
Failon Ngayon has since reached out to NHA Region VIII, and had it confirmed by Information Officer Dorcas Sicreto that HardieFlex™ was not the material used in the substandard houses in the said project.
An erratum was issued in the Failon Ngayon January 7 episode.
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