Student killed, boy wounded by piccolo

BAYOMBONG, Nueva Vizcaya, Philippines – Piccolo, a small firecracker that is now considered the most dangerous in the country, reportedly caused the death of a student in Tuguegarao City.

In Quezon City, an 11-year-old boy was left brain dead from injuries he suffered when he and a friend ignited gunpowder collected from unexploded firecrackers last Thursday.

Police said Leonard Sales, a student of Saint Louis University in Tuguegarao, died from injuries he suffered after he placed a piccolo on top of a lighted firework called a “fountain,” causing it to explode in his face.

Sales died in a local hospital.

John Kenneth Deniega, 11, sustained serious head injuries from the explosion in Barangay Balong Bato, Quezon City.

Doctors at the Manila Central University (MCU) Hospital in Caloocan City said the boy’s heart and other organs are still functioning but he is brain dead.

Barangay officials said Deniaga, a grade five student at Balong Bato Elementary School, hit his head on a concrete wall when the explosion threw him several feet.

Both hands of Deniega’s friend Mar Jayson Gotos, 11, were amputated and his left eye was seriously injured.

Superintendent Michael Macapagal, commander of the Talipapa police station, said Deniega and Gotos are still being treated at MCU.

Macapagal said the explosion took place at around 2:30 p.m. Thursday at a vacant lot at the Dimaano Compound in Barangay Balong Bato.

He said the two boys collected unexploded firecrackers in the area and gathered the gunpowder that they later ignited.

The Department of Health (DOH) said yesterday that the number of fireworks injuries in this year’s revelry had reached 933 cases, surpassing the 931 incidents in the previous New Year’s celebration.

The DOH said majority of the injuries were caused by piccolo explosions.

In a press briefing, DOH Assistant Secretary Eric Tayag said that as of 6 a.m. yesterday, they have registered a total of 933 cases, thus breaching the 931 cases recorded up to Jan. 5, 2013.

“It has already exceeded last year’s figures and we’ll still be monitoring cases until Jan. 5.,” he noted.

It was in the 2011 New Year revelry when fireworks injuries reached the 1,000 mark.

Of this number, 914 were due to fireworks, with piccolo accounting for 354 cases.

A total of 229 cases involved children less than 10 years old.

The registry showed that 136 had eye injuries while 22 sustained blast injuries that required amputation.

Health Secretary Enrique Ona has sought a total ban on all firecrackers.

Meanwhile, the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) is planning to impose fines on cities that fail to enforce regulations on the use of firecrackers.

DENR Secretary Ramon Paje said they are now looking into other possible ways to minimize air pollution, especially during New Year revelries, and one of these is imposing penalties on municipalities where air pollution keeps getting worse.

Paje said, “We may impose a fine of P1 million for a certain percent rise of PM10, or particulate matter 10 microns and below in diameter, which is the standard used in measuring air quality.“

The DENR chief said since air pollution covers not just one or two cities but the whole Metro Manila, firecrackers should be regulated not just in a few cities like in Marikina and Muntinlupa, where there are already ordinances regulating the sale and manufacture of firecrackers.

However, Paje said they would still have to study the legal basis for the sanctions. With Sheila Crisostomo, Janvic Mateo, Rhodina Villanueva, Dino Balabo, Ben Serrano, Danny Dangcalan