Even legal firecrackers causing injuries – DOH

MANILA, Philippines — The firecrackers that caused injuries to 34 victims in the past week include 12 legal fireworks, the Department of Health (DOH) reported yesterday.

Based on the surveillance conducted by the DOH-Epidemiology Bureau, 12 more people have sustained injuries from firecracker blasts that brought to 34 the total number of cases since the start of monitoring last Dec. 21.

The DOH said of the 34 cases, 12 were due to legal fireworks, like small whistle bombs, kwitis, luces and 5-Star.

Boga and piccolo were among the top illegal fireworks that caused injuries.

The agency added that the regions of Ilocos, Cordillera Autonomous Region, Calabarzon and Bicol accounted for 16 of the 34 cases, with four from each of them.  

Philipine National Police officer-in-charge Lt. Gen. Archie Francisco Gamboa led the inspection yesterday of fireworks stores in Barangay Turo in Bocaue, Bulacan as part of the crackdown against illegal fireworks.

Gamboa has noticed that some of the fireworks dealers displayed only photo copies of the licenses and permits and advised them that it is not permitted and they should display the original licenses and permits in their stores.

“It is just like a driver’s license, you have to carry your original license when driving and not xerox copy of it,” Gamboa told the dealers.

Col. Emma Libunao, acting Bulacan police director, said there are 124 dealers and 24 fireworks manufacturers in Bulacan, with 65 of the dealers based in Bocaue, making it the fireworks capital of the country.

Only licensed dealers and retailers will be allowed to sell fireworks products and the “bilao” style of selling will not be tolerated and its products will be confiscated. But its sellers will not be apprehended in the spirit of Christmas.

However, sellers of imported smuggled products like piccolo will be arrested and investigations will be made on where the items originated and charges will be filed against the dealers of these smuggled items, Libunao added.

At the press conference after the inspection of the stores, Gamboa clarified that the “sawa” firecracker product is not banned.

Recently, agents of the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) seized sawa products in Baliwag town in a raid that was televised in a news program.

Firecracker stakeholders are wary that the confiscation of the sawa products by the NBI agents in Baliwag town will lead to confiscations of the said items in other parts of the country, and were relieved after Gamboa personally declared it as a legal firecracker item.

Gamboa also led the ceremonial destruction of seized illegal fireworks worth P50,917 that include Boom-boom, kwitis, 5-Star, kwiton, pla-pla, Bin Laden, big triangle, Delima, Kabasi, piccolo, special tuna, super lolo, goodbye Philippines, atomic bomb, giant whistle bomb, whistle bomb, 8.2 magnitude, pastillas bawang, pizza pie, baby dDynamite, Judas belt and five kilos of fuse that were confiscated in the towns of Baliwag, Bocaue, Marilao, San Rafael, Bulakan, Santa Maria and the city of San Jose del Monte.

The Pangasinan Provincial Health Office (PHO) wants a 50 percent reduction in firecracker-related injuries in its “Iwas Paputok, Iwas Putol, Fireworks Display ang Patok” campaign for the New Year revelry of Pangasinenses.

Anna Ma. Teresa de Guzman said the campaign urges Pangasinenses to conduct fireworks display in one venue in every barangay to guarantee a safer New Year this year.

The PHO recorded 101 firecracker-related cases during the Christmas holidays until the first week of January in 2019, which is six percent lower than the recorded cases in 2017 that reached 107,  De Guzman said.

Among the commonly used firecrackers that have caused injuries in the previous years are sky rocket or kwitis and piccolo, she said, adding that these types of firecrackers can be transported discreetly and are sold in some sari-sari stores.

She added that 14 government-run hospitals of the province are prepared, especially the emergency rooms including the medicines, instruments and apparatus of each hospital, which will be used in treating  the victims.

“We assure the public that we have enough medical supplies in our hospitals like laboratory reagents and X-ray plates that will be used in case there are bone injuries,” she said. With Romina Cabrera, Ramon Efren Lazaro, Eva Visperas