DENR issues warning on balloon release events

MANILA, Philippines — Releasing of balloons in the air during special events including funerals is punishable under the law, the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) said yesterday.

Ipat Luna, DENR regional executive director for Calabarzon, said they have to issue the warning because the practice of releasing balloons during special events is becoming rampant and worsening the garbage problem.

“The funeral parlor and the grieving family could be thinking that these flying balloons will reach heaven which is referred to as the final resting place of their departed loved ones. But the truth is these balloons will just eventually drop on the ground,” she said.

“Could it also mean that the message sent just reached purgatory? Make sure these messages of love will reach your loved ones and not the purgatory,” she said.

“In the Calabarzon region, we are urging local government units to consider the act of releasing balloons in the air littering since that’s really what happens eventually,” Luna added.

She said funeral parlors as well as event organizers found engaged in such activity would be slapped with charges. “If a complaint regarding this matter reaches our office like what happened to the ‘Balloon Drop’ in Okada Manila, we can file a case of violation of Republic Act 9003 (Ecological Solid Waste Management Act of 2000),” she pointed out.

Amid protests from environmental and other concerned groups and upon DENR’s advice, Okada Manila cancelled its plan to drop 130,000 balloons as part of its New Year’s Eve countdown.

Okada Manila had hoped to break the current Guinness Book of World Records for the largest indoor balloon drop involving 109,000 balloons.