Firecracker injuries down 35%; zero deaths

MANILA, Philippines — After the New Year revelry, the Department of Health (DOH) reported yesterday a 35 percent decline in fireworks-related injuries this Yuletide season.

In a press conference at the East Avenue Medical Center in Quezon City, Health Secretary Francisco Duque III said 102 people were injured by firecracker blasts during the New Year revelry from 6 a.m. of Dec. 31 to 6 a.m. of Jan. 1.

This brings to 164 the total number of injuries recorded by the DOH-Epidemiology Bureau since it started surveillance of 50 hospitals nationwide on Dec. 21.

DOH data show the 164 cases are 87 lower than the 251 recorded from Dec. 21, 2018 to Jan. 1, 2019. This is also 71 percent lower than the five-year average of 403 cases from 2014 to 2018.

Data showed there was no report of injuries from stray bullets and also no deaths from firecrackers.  

“We were able to reduce cases by as much as 35 percent. This is indeed a welcome development, but we will not stop until we achieve zero fireworks-related injuries,” he noted.

He attributed the drop to the regulation of household use of firecrackers through Executive Order No. 28 issued by President Duterte in 2017.

Duque said the DOH intends to “build on the gains this year to ensure that the next holidays will be safer for every Filipino.”

He said EO 28 has significantly helped bring down injuries. The EO provides that pyrotechnics should be confined to “community fireworks display.”  

“We would like to think that EO 28 has had an impact. Last year, there was a relatively heavy downpour and because of that, we said many people did not use fireworks,” he added.

But on New Year’s Eve, he said there were no rains but the number of cases still went down and they believe it is due to the EO.

Duque also underscored the roles played by some local chief executives and the media in discouraging the public from using firecrackers in ushering in the New Year.  

One of those who stopped using firecrackers is 47-year-old Robert Rey Reodique of Marilao, Bulacan.  

He recalled that a few years ago, a triangle firecracker almost exploded in his right hand because he was not able to throw it immediately after lighting.

“My hand got numb. There was no injury but I felt the impact of the blast and it was painful. After that, I no longer want to use firecrackers,” Reodique told The STAR.

Victims

But Duque said that while there are fewer cases now, a majority of the victims are children while legal fireworks have caused most of the injuries.

Data showed that 104 or 63 percent of cases are those below 15 years old.

One of the victims is a 10-year-old boy from Marinduque who was brought to East Avenue Medical Center (EAMC) in Quezon City due to burns on the face. He was watching a group of children using boga, an illegal improvised cannon, when it exploded and hit him on the face last Dec. 29.  

According to EAMC surgeon Marivic Mapa, one of the boy’s attending physicians, the victim sustained burns on his hands while 13 percent of his face also had burns.

A 19-year-old woman from Quezon City was also brought to EAMC after she was accidentally hit by an exploding firecracker on the left eye, which was removed by doctors.

Duque said legal fireworks have accounted for 80 percent of injuries.  

Topping the list are kwitis (33), followed by luces (19) and fountain (18), baby rocket (9).  

Piccolo, a banned firecracker, had injured 13, followed by boga, another illegal item that injured eight people. 

“It’s a bit oxymoronic to say that it is legal but it is injurious. So those two things are not in congruence, they are conflicting... There is no such thing as legal or illegal fireworks. Every firework product can be injurious,” he added.

Duque has reiterated that the only way to achieve “zero injuries” from firecrackers is to impose a total ban on these products.

He admitted this cannot be done yet due to its impact on the livelihood of workers in the firecracker industry.

Reports on firecracker-related injuries showed that National Capital Region had the highest number of cases (84), followed by Calabarzon (13), Ilocos Region (12), Central Luzon (11), Cagayan Valley and Western Visayas (10 cases each). 

Bureau of Fire Protection (BFP) spokesman Senior Supt. Geranndie Agonos meanwhile reported that there was also no firecracker-related blaze on New Year’s Eve.

The Philippine National Police (PNP) recorded a total of 324 incidents related to the 2019 Christmas season, which it claimed is 59.39 percent lower compared to the 798 incidents in 2018.

PNP spokesman Brig. Gen. Bernard Banac said among the incidents documented from Dec. 16 to Jan. 1 were 21 cases of illegal discharge of firearms and three victims hit by stray bullets, while the rest involved the use of firecrackers.

Banac said the incidents did not in any way affect the peaceful outcome of the Christmas and New Year holidays.

According to Banac, it seems citizens have heeded the call of the government to stop using firecrackers and firearms during the Christmas Eve and New Year’s Eve celebrations.

He said the PNP headquarters received reports on 81 firecracker-related injuries during the New Year’s Eve revelry.

“We are grateful that the people heeded our call to shun the age-old tradition of welcoming the New Year with dangerous firecrackers and gunfire that has resulted in death and injuries in previous years,” he said.

Among the 14 arrested for indiscriminate firing of handguns is Chinese national Kimy Chan.  

He was accosted last Dec. 25 when he fired a firearm in front of a music bar along Roxas Boulevard in Pasay City.

Also in the list of violators are two soldiers, a policeman, one militiaman and three security guards.

Banac identified the erring policeman as Cpl. Nelson Jagmoc, 35, assigned with the Butuan City police station.  

He was nabbed after he fired his handgun in the air during a heated argument with his live-in partner in Barangay Los Angeles, Butuan at around 2 p.m. last Dec. 26

The two soldiers, meanwhile, were arrested for indiscriminate firing at around 11:19 p.m. in Cotabato City last Dec. 18. 

Capt. Jemar delos Santos, spokesman for the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao police, identified one of the soldiers as Cpl. Dane Bajet, 37.

The soldiers together with two militiamen and three civilians were drinking at a videoke bar in Barangay Rosary Heights 9.

Bajet later handed over his 9 mm service pistol to one of the civilians when it accidentally went off.

Splinters from the bullet and concrete floor hit the soldiers’ five drinking companions.

Fifteen others were arrested for the same offense, including three in Metro Manila, two each in Davao, Northern Mindanao and Bicol, and one each in Ilocos, Cagayan Valley, Calabarzon, Western Visayas, Eastern Visayas and Zamboanga Peninsula.

Brig. Gen. Rhodel Sermonia, acting regional director of the Central Luzon police, said at least 60 persons were injured by fireworks in Bulacan, Nueva Ecija, Tarlac, Bataan, Pampanga, Zambales, Angeles City and Olongapo City.

Davao City for the 16th year recorded zero fireworks injuries during New Year’s Eve. 

Davao City has imposed for the past 16 years a ban on the sale and use of firecrackers and any pyrotechnic materials as constituents here have been used to the banging of pans and pots and honking of horns to meet the New Year.

President Duterte, a longtime mayor of Davao City, had enforced a strict regulation on the sale and use of firecrackers. 

In Southern Metro Manila, 12 persons were injured by firecrackers.

The Southern Police District (SPD) said the most number of firecracker injuries were recorded in Muntinlupa with six cases, followed by Parañaque and Pasay with two each, while the cities of Las Piñas and Makati had one case each. 

Some 28 persons were injured by firecrackers in Northern Metro Manila while 16 others were injured in the eastern part of the metropolis.

Police said 20 peddlers of illegal firecrackers were also arrested. - With Emmanuel Tupas, Ralph Edwin Villanueva, Ed Amoroso, Edith Regalado, Ric Sapnu, Ramon Efren Lazaro, Gilbert Bayoran, Eva Visperas, Victor Martin, Raymund Catindig