EDITORIAL - Celebratory gunfire

Compared to the previous year, according to the Philippine National Police, there was an increase in the number of firecracker-related injuries as Filipinos continued the tradition of giving the New Year a boisterous welcome. This was probably because nearly all COVID restrictions have now been lifted, and livelihoods have recovered sufficiently for people to splurge on pyrotechnic devices.

Unfortunately, another tradition of sorts that was sustained was the firing of guns to celebrate the New Year. As of Jan. 1, the PNP had recorded at least 13 cases of illegal discharge of firearms. Among those injured by stray bullets was a Catholic priest who was watching the fireworks in Baguio City.

At least there were no deaths reported from celebratory gunfire as of yesterday. In previous years, among the victims were children. And their families are still waiting for justice. Among them are the relatives of Stephanie Nicole Ella. The seven-year-old girl was watching the fireworks on New Year’s Eve 2013 outside her house in Caloocan City when she was hit in the head with a stray bullet. She died a day later after slipping into a coma.

Students and faculty in her school staged a protest march to demand justice for the girl. At least 32 potential suspects were eyed and several persons of interest were questioned by police, but to this day, no one has been held responsible for Ella’s death. The outrage over her death also failed to stop the indiscriminate firing of guns to celebrate the New Year. During the revelry on Jan. 1, 2015, a stray bullet hit the head of 11-year-old Jercy Decym Buenafe Tabaday as she was playing with friends outside her house in Tayum, Abra. She died three hours later in a hospital.

Even during the pandemic, a 12-year-old girl suddenly fell to the ground as she was playing with her cousin outside her home in Lanao del Norte at around 1 a.m. on Jan. 1, 2021. A doctor found a gunshot wound in her head. As in the case of Ella, the girl’s killer has not been caught or even identified.

That failure is surely the reason why illegal gun discharge continues during New Year celebrations. There is no accurate inventory of licensed guns that can help in matching bullets recovered from victims with the weapons used. And there are simply too many loose firearms all over the country. Unless these weaknesses are sufficiently addressed, celebratory gunfire will continue in the next New Year’s Eve revelry. And there is always the chance that the stray bullets will kill.