Fireworks industry fights for survival

MALOLOS, Philippines – With all the warnings against using firecrackers and other pyrotechnic devices during the New Year’s Eve revelry, fireworks manufacturers are concerned that the various regulations could lead to the collapse of the local fireworks industry.

Celso Cruz, chairman emeritus of the Philippine Manufacturers and Dealers Association Inc., told The STAR that the Firecracker Law or Republic Act 7183 otherwise known as the Act regulating the sale, manufacture, distribution and use of firecrackers and other pyrotechnic devices, which was enacted in 1992, had resulted in the closure of many fireworks factories.

Cruz pointed out that there were at least 800 registered fireworks manufacturers nationwide but after the passage of RA 7183 only 68 registered manufacturers remain.

A local fireworks factory owner, who refused to be identified, said that many government officials have ignored the income generating opportunities that the industry has provided to workers in Bulacan, the fireworks capital of the country, and other stakeholders in Luzon, the Visayas and Mindanao.

He said the Firecracker Law was impossible to enforce and only resulted in the proliferation of illegal fireworks.

Cruz said that 22 years after the law was implemented, the much needed amendments to its prohibitions are still pending in Congress and continue to hamper the growth of the industry.

He said the biggest blow that the industry is facing is the proliferation of imported pyrotechnics in the local market that are supposedly prohibited under the law, but the foreign-made items are openly sold in the local market disguised as locally produced products.

The entry of the prohibited products first saw significance in the local market when the country celebrated the 2000 centennial year, when imported products were used in the international fireworks competitions held in Manila Bay in Manila.

The entry of imported pyrotechnics brought by the foreign teams slowly deluged the local market and are now directly competing with traditional fireworks and firecrackers.

As if the “dying” local fireworks industry has not yet received its final death blow, then came the “Iwas Paputok” campaign of the Department of Health (DOH), which local fireworks stakeholders tried to counter with the  “Ingat Paputok” campaign.

Sad to say, the fireworks stakeholders feel that other government agencies have lately been towing the line of the DOH to the detriment of the local industry.

With these developments, the fireworks manufacturers are appealing to the concerned government agencies to get their act together and save the dying fireworks industry that was once a multibillion-peso business.

Fireworks injuries

The DOH has recorded 176 injuries related to the Yuletide revelry as of Dec. 30.

Acting Health Secretary Janette Garin said 173 cases were due to firecrackers, two due to luces ingestion and one case of stray bullet injury.

DOH records also showed 136 victims underwent amputation of the limbs, while 33 suffered eye injuries.

“No death reported. Most of the cases came from the National Capital Region, which had 81 cases or 46 percent. In NCR, most cases were from Manila at 31 or 38 percent,” she added.

Piccolo remains the leading cause of firecracker injuries at 122 cases.

Albay Gov. Joey Salceda has ordered the confiscation of illegal firecrackers after Albay registered the highest number of firecracker injuries among the five provinces in Bicol.

The police seized assorted firecrackers like atomic big triangulo, super lolo, watusi, super thunder, goodbye Philippines, pop-pop and piccolo from the cities of Legazpi and Tabaco and the towns of Guinobatan and Polangui last Saturday.

“Confiscation of these firecrackers could lessen the number of injures and enable the people to celebrate a safe New Year,” Salceda said.

DOH’s latest firecracker injury monitoring report said that as of Dec. 30, 46 persons, mostly children, were injured in Bicol, with 21 cases in Albay.

Thirty-four injuries were caused by piccolo. The youngest injured due to firecracker was a three-year-old from Barangay San Roque in Ligao City. – With Sheila Crisostomo, Celso Amo