Bulacan police monitoring sale of pyrotechnic products

BOCAUE, Bulacan – Police are closely monitoring the sale and distribution of pyrotechnic products in the province as the New Year celebration draws near.

Senior Superintendent Allen Bantolo, acting provincial police director, said he has directed police chiefs in towns where pyrotechnic products are sold to enforce safety guidelines like no smoking and no testing to prevent accidental explosions.

Based on records of the police and the Philippine Pyrotechnics Manufacturers and Dealers Association Inc. (PPMDAI), at least two big explosions happened in Barangay Turo here in the past three years.

The first one in 2005 occurred when a wayward skyrocket or kwitis that was being tested fell on a pile of firecrackers, killing a number of people, including children, and destroying properties.

In another explosion, rows of stalls selling pyrotechnic products were razed to the ground.

Earlier, the PPMDAI said police must look into the practice of stall owners of stocking too many pyrotechnic products in their stalls.

Celso Cruz, PPMDAI chairman, said a stall must store only a maximum 25 kilos of pyrotechnic products to prevent deadly explosions and that stall owners must keep a drum full of water in cases of fire.

Vimmie Erese, PPMDAI president, echoed this, saying explosions usually happen in rows of stalls mostly in this town.

“There were no similar incidents in San Rafael, Malolos and Baliuag, except when a drunken man lighted fireworks on display at the Baliuag public market in 2003,” she said.