Digal wants firecrackers banned

CEBU, Philippines – Cebu Provincial Police Office (CPPO) Director Erson Digal will ask the Cebu Provincial Board to pass an ordinance banning the manufacture and sale of firecrackers in the province.

But a firecracker manufacturer in Lapu-Lapu City is confident Digal's move could not be implemented as long as the 1992 law legalizing it is in effect.

Cebu City Mayor Michael Rama is also supporting moves to prohibit the manufacture, sale and purchase of lantaka (homemade cannon) and pugakhang (improvised shotgun).

Digal said that regulating firecrackers is not enough to minimize the danger they pose.

He, however, clarified that only firecrackers need to be banned and not the "safer" pyrotechnic devices.

Digal said the harmful effects of firecrackers are also a burden on the part of doctors and nurses, fire officers, police officers and vehicle drivers who often spend their Christmas waiting for alarms so they could respond.

He said doctors and nurses wait for firecracker-related patients, fire officers wait for fire alarms caused by firecrackers and police officers wait for shooting incidents.

He said it is better to pray and ask God for blessings during Christmas than throw firecrackers.

But Julian and Grace Pongas, owner of JP Fireworks in Barangay Babag 2 that pioneered the firecracker industry in Lapu-Lapu City, said they have been hearing this for more than a decade now.

Since 1992 when the law legalizing the manufacture of firecrackers was revived, talks on a ban started.

"Dugay na man na sige ingon nga ipa-ban nya wa pa man lagi hangtod ron," said Grace, 76.

Julian, 77, said they started manufacturing firecrackers in 1953 but were forced to stop in 1964 when Marcos imposed a ban.

The couple was back in business in 1992 when former President Fidel Ramos revived the law legalizing it.

Julian said many will be deprived if the ban pushes through. As long as rules are strictly followed, accidents can be avoided, he said.

Authorities regularly monitor their manufacturing site, which is 300 meters from residential areas, and found no violations.

Mayor Rama, for his part, supports a ban on lantaka and pugakhang but is apprehensive that a new legislation would suffer the fate of others and remain unimplemented.

Lantaka are tubes that could be made of bamboo, tin cans, polyvinyl chloride homopolymer or PVC pipes, bottles or other hollow tubes filled or pre-heated with gas or fluid and pressurized with hand pump.

Councilor Edgardo Labella proposed to declare as illegal the manufacture, sale and possession of lantaka, which is common during Christmas season, and pugakhang. 

Labella suggests a fine ranging from P1,000 to P5,000 for violators.

He received reports that vendors started discreetly selling pugakhang, mostly to teenagers.

In Cebu City, one Eggie Reynes of sitio Laurente in Barangay Tejero seriously injured his brother with a pugakhang, while Marcial Ybas of Barangay Lipanto in Alegria killed his brother using the same weapon.

Labella said pugakhang used to be mere noisemakers during the holidays but these have been improvised to cause louder blasts.

Last year, a six-year-old boy in Talisay City died after placing his head near the lantaka made of plastic or alluminum tube.

The lantaka exploded into the child's face, the impact affecting his heart and lungs. - Ria Mae Y. Booc, Niña G. Sumacot and Rene U. Borromeo/JPM (FREEMAN)