Lawmaker backs Duterte plan to ban firecrackers nationwide

MANILA, Philippines - A lawmaker yesterday reiterated his call for a nationwide ban on firecrackers following an explosion at a firecracker store in Bocaue, Bulacan that left two persons dead.

Quezon City Rep. Winnie Castelo, chairman of the House committee on Metro Manila development, said banning firecrackers would save lives.

“A total ban can prevent hundreds of unnecessary injuries, more often involving children, that perennially occur when Filipinos welcome the New Year,” Castelo said, noting that most of these victims are from Metro Manila.

The number of injured children rose significantly over the years. Of the 358 victims injured by the banned firecracker piccolo in 2015’s New Year’s Eve celebration, 267 or 74 percent were children aged 14 years and below.

More than half of the cases (467) were in Metro Manila, with Manila topping the list with 168, followed by Quezon City with 89 and Mandaluyong City 52 cases.

Castelo said mere regulation and a selective ban won’t work as shown over the years, when death tolls have been monitored by the Department of Health.

“Instead of people using firecrackers to welcome the New Year, local officials should designate areas where their constituents can watch fireworks display, operated by professionals,” he said

“That way, we don’t take away the revelry and celebration that have been part of our tradition to welcome the New Year. The holiday season is upon us and we do not want to wake up again to greet the first day of 2017 counting injuries, if not deaths,” he added.

While a strict firecracker ban has long been in place in Davao City where he was mayor for two decades, President Duterte told journalists he would first consult his Cabinet on the matter.

“I would need the Cabinet to decide. It will be a Cabinet decision,” he said, adding that government needs to consider the economic and social implications of a nationwide firecracker ban.

Castelo has filed House Bill 1626, which seeks to prohibit the manufacture and sale of unsafe firecrackers and impose a fine of P500,000 to P1.5 million for violators.