Safe mode on bangers

By Uriel Quilinguing

WITH just one fireworks-related injury in the recent Christmas and New Year celebrations in Cagayan de Oro, those who compose the multi-agency Firecrackers Task Force to regulate the distribution, sale, and use of firecrackers within the city deserves to be commended. 

Unlike in the past, there were no confiscations, case filing, impositions of penalties, and burning of seized unlawful items. Not that the task force did nothing—there simply no infractions of the law this time. 

Engr. Jane Docallos, the city director of the Department of Interior and Local Government who chairs the task force, during a Talakayan forum last Jan. 7, this year, said there is no need to enforce if retailers and distributors of firecrackers and fireworks are cognizant of the provisions of the law and policies of the local government.   

And since the Liga ng mga Barangay is a task force member, all barangay officials were engaged, actively involved in house-to-house information dissemination initiatives. 

In fact, media organizations Cagayan de Oro Press Club and Kapisanan ng mga Brodkasters ng Pilipinas-Cagayan de Oro City Chapter helped in the transmission of advocacy messages to their respective audiences.                

And since the task force membership is largely from the government’s regional agencies, those mandated to deliver the national government’s Iwas Paputok campaign can very well take a free ride on the successes of the Cagayan de Oro-based task force for the past three years now. 

The Department of Health regional office, based in Cagayan de Oro, is on the driver’s seat on the regionwide Iwas Paputok advocacies while the Police Regional Office 10 serves as its conductor if it were a passenger jeepney ride.  

But those directly tasked at the regional health and police offices, not only the spokespersons, have their hands full since firecrackers and pyrotechnics—both legal and illegal—continue to pose risks to users and bystanders. Hence, there were nine reported cases of gunpowder burns and eye injuries for Dec. 21-Jan.5 surveillance period. Fortunately, there were no cases that required surgical treatments. 

How these firecrackers that contain more than two grams passed through the scrutiny of Department of Trade and Industry’s Product Standards and Philippine National Police’s Firearms and Explosives, as well as through seaports under the supervision of the Philippine Ports Authority must be explained. 

Docallos, who proposed a total local ban on firecrackers, confided to MediaKonek her proposal did not gain grounds since most City Council members are against it. 

On the existence of illegal firecrackers, she said these may have been last year’s leftovers and were just sold last Christmas somewhere in the region. 

PRO-10 spokesperson Lt. Col. Mardi Hortillosa said these must have come somewhere else via Zamboanga or Davao since police have no information of local manufacturers of firecrackers and pyrotechnics other than those from Bocaue, Bulacan. 

But DOH assistant regional director David Mendoza’s mindset was different, saying it doesn’t really matter whether the firecrackers are legal or illegal since both pose hazards just the same to whoever ignite for these to explode, thus create deafening banging sounds. 

To ban firecrackers, either at the local or national level, could be the ultimate option, but this would require legislative measures. And lawmakers in Congress as well as in local legislative bodies may opt for a safe mode to secure votes instead of pushing for measures to protect their constituencies.

(Uriel C. Quilinguing is a former president of the Cagayan de Oro Press Club who has been editor in chief of Cagayan de Oro-based newspapers, including this paper. For reactions, e-mail them to uriel.quilinguing@yahoo.com.)