Man dies after hugging ‘Goodbye Philippines’

MANILA, Philippines – “Goodbye Philippines” proved fatal to a man who, in a drunken stupor, hugged the giant firecracker after lighting it.

He was declared dead on arrival at the Ospital ng Maynila at 2 a.m. yesterday.

The hospital did not disclose the identity of the victim, but reports identified the only firecracker fatality as 45-year-old Ronald Vericio of Buenos Aires St., Sta. Mesa.

His partner Kristina Serrano said he put his arm around the Goodbye Philippines moments after lighting it and the firecracker exploded in his face.

Goodbye Philippines also tore off the leg of another man who stepped on the banned firecracker in Manila. The 34-year-old man was rushed to the Jose Reyes Memorial Medical Center.

JRMMC officer-of-the-day Felipa Acebedo said the patient’s left leg had to be amputated. The lower part of the leg down to the foot was mangled and nearly severed.

“In blast injuries, body parts are usually mangled and it’s hard to put them back together,” she said in Filipino.

He was one of the more than 300 people treated for firecracker injuries and stray bullets from Dec. 21 up to New Year’s Eve, the Department of Health (DOH) said yesterday.

Health Secretary Janette Garin said the number of injured brought to different hospitals – four for injuries from stray bullets – was more than half lower than last year. “There are 384 cases as of (yesterday) morning. We are very happy that it is 53 percent lower than the previous year. And if we compare it with the past five years’ data, it is 57 percent lower,” Garin said in a press briefing.

Garin said a “confluence of factors” – including the downpour on New Year’s Eve, the vigorous anti-firecracker campaign of the DOH and the police crackdown on illegal firecracker stores – contributed to the sharp drop in reports of injuries.

Eighteen-year-old Vincent Pangan from Tondo, Manila was also treated at the JRMMC after he was hit by a stray bullet on the left leg.

Pangan said he was walking in Pritil Market in Tondo at around 10 p.m. with some friends when he felt something hit his right leg.

“Ït was like someone punched me in the leg and when I look at my leg, it was bleeding. I thought I was hit by firecrackers but when my uncle checked the wound, he realized it was caused by a bullet,” he added.

As of 6 a.m. yesterday, a report from the DOH Epidemiology Bureau showed the illegal firecracker piccolo caused 219 of the 380 firecracker-related injuries. The others were due to five-star (four percent), kwitis (nine percent), luces (four percent) and other unknown firecrackers (five percent).

Most of the injured were from the National Capital Region (NCR) with 243 cases, followed by Bicol region with 31 cases and Calabarzon with 27 cases. In NCR, most cases were from Manila, 73; Quezon City, 46; Marikina, 28.

Garin said most of the victims were children below 14 years old. “We have to deter the entry of piccolo in our country because without piccolo, there will be fewer to almost nil firecracker related injuries,” she said.

She added that piccolos were smuggled into the country and repackaged to make it appear that they were made in Bulacan.

“This makes it hard to pinpoint (the source) because they have undergone repackaging upon entry to the country. Piccolo is imported as you would see that they are made by machines and the technology is not available in the country,” she said.

Records also showed 246 or 65 percent of the cases involved hand injuries. There were 50 cases of eye injuries, 35 head injuries and 23 forearm and leg injuries.

Nine of the cases required amputation. Doctors in Nueva Vizcaya had to amputate three fingers of an eight-year-old boy wounded by kwitis blast. Kwitis is a legal firecracker.

The four stray bullet injuries include a 48-year-old woman from Valenzuela City who was hit on her right side while sleeping inside their house.

There was no report of poisoning from fireworks ingestion, the DOH said.

Illegal firecrackers accounted for 273 of the 380 cases while 87 cases were due to legal firecrackers.

The data is based on reports coming from 50 sentinel hospitals of the DOH nationwide.

Possible increase

The DOH said the cases, while less than the previous year’s, might swell in the coming days with cases of children getting injured by unexploded or discarded firecrackers that they had picked up.

“We request the parents to watch over their children. Don’t let them pick up firecrackers. Although the fircrackers have been soaked in the rain, they will get dry and can still explode,” Garin warned.

She also advised the public to turn over discarded or unexploded firecrackers to the police for proper disposal.

She also advised the public to get vaccinated against tetanus if they sustain even minor wounds or burns to prevent infection.

“We sometimes have the tendency to ignore minor burns and wounds but when it comes to firecrackers, we cannot do that. Even a small wound could get infected,” Garin maintained. 

She also said the rains may have helped clear the smog caused by fireworks.

“We have some data on respiratory cases but we cannot categorize if it is an attack caused by fumes or an allergy caused by the food that we have been eating this holiday,”he added.

Data shows 83 cases of respiratory illnesses at the Lung Center of the Philippines, East Avenue Medical Center and Jose Reyes Memorial Medical Center on New Year’s Eve.

The cases included asthma attack, pneumonia and difficulty in breathing.

Praises from Noy

With reports of fewer firecracker injuries, President Aquino commended the Philippine National Police (PNP) for what he called a job well done in preventing the rampant sale of illegal firecrackers.

The President relayed the commendation to PNP chief Director General Ricardo Marquez in a text message.

The President called Marquez’s attention to Garin’s report that cases of firecracker injuries went down sharply.

“Ric the ff is from Janette Garin. Congratulations and Pls pass the job well done to all. Happy New Year,” Aquino’s text message read. Marquez passed the message to all police regional, provincial and station commanders nationwide.

Marquez’s text message to his men stated “fm the Chief, PNP for widest dissemination. Gentlemen this one was from no less than the President himself.”

Garin also informed the President of the role played by the PNP in limiting firecracker injuries. “The confiscations done by PNP helped a lot. Happy New Year Sir,” Garin said in a text message to President Aquino.

In San Juan, Mayor Guia Gomez also thanked the local police and firemen for what she called peaceful and orderly celebration of the New Year in the city. 

Meanwhile in Bocaue, Bulacan, unsold illegal firecrackers and pyrotechnics products were distributed for free to revelers.

Oversized firecrackers were reportedly being given away for free hours before midnight as strict police monitoring prevented unscrupulous businessmen from selling their products openly.

But Quezon City Police District (QCPD) director Chief Supt. Edgardo Tinio said that the police only confiscated illegal firecrackers during their operation and let the sellers go as their “heart softened” by the thought that sellers of illegal firecrackers have also invested money in selling their illegal products.

He said that while it’s the police’s mandate to arrest all the people violating Republic Act 7183 or the law on pyrotechnic devices, “you can surmise that there is a human side” in the operation.

Under RA 7183, persons caught manufacturing, selling, distributing and purchasing illegal firecrackers may be imprisoned from six months to a year, and may be fined P20,000 to P30,000.  – Cecille Suerte Felipe, Non Alquitran, Ramon Efren Lazaro, Ric Sapnu, Janvic Mateo, Michelle Zoleta, Eva Visperas, Artemio Dumlao, Celso Amo, Ric Sapnu, Ghio Ong, Perseus Echeminada, Cesar Ramirez, Robertzon Ramirez