By Jennifer P. Rendon
No firecracker-related injury was recorded in Western Visayas amid the “silent” Christmas celebration due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
As of Dec 26, 2020 the Police Regional Office 6 (PRO)-6 also did not receive any report of stray bullet incidents or illegal discharge of firearm.
There is also a zero incident of fire due to firecrackers or pyrotechnics.
But the Iloilo City Police Station 6 recorded one case of illegal possession/use/sale of firecrackers.
Based on PRO-6 data, there are 11 cities and municipalities that have existing ordinances that ban firecrackers.
Lieutenant Colonel Joem Malong, PRO-6 spokesperson, said they don’t usually expect incidents of firecracker-related injuries.
“There’s a pandemic. I think it contributed to the zero cracker-related incidents. People would rather want to spend on the essentials,” she said.
Malong also noted that the Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) only issued guidelines on the use of pyrotechnics and firecrackers.
The DILG reiterated that Executive Order No. 28 s. 2017 issued by President Duterte which strictly regulates the use of Firecrackers and Pyrotechnics still stands.
Under the order, the sale and use of firecrackers which fall under any of the following are strictly prohibited anywhere in the country:
* Overweight – with more than 1/3 teaspoon or more than 0.2 gram of net explosive ingredients;
* Oversized- like atomic big triangulo, super lolo, giant whistle bomb, etc;
* With short fuse- should not burn less than three seconds but not more than six seconds;
* Imported – finished products;
* Mixture – sulphur and/or phosphorous mixed with chlorates;
* Unlabelled locally made products.
The use and sale of watusi, piccolo, poppop, five stat, plapla, Lolo thunder, giant bawang, giant whistle, atomic bomb, atomic triangle, large-size Judas Belt, Goodbye Delima, Hello Columbia, Goodbye Napoles, Super Yolanda, Mother Rockets, Kwiton, Super Lolo, Goodbye Bading, Goodbye Philippines, Bin Laden, Coke-in-can, Pillbox, Boga, Kabasi, and other similar firecrackers are also strictly prohibited anywhere in the country as these may cause injuries to the public, especially to children.
The sale and use of consumer pyrotechnics, or commonly referred to as pailaw, may still be allowed.
The PNP cited examples of allowable pailaw like Butterfly, Fountain, Jumbo Regular and Special, Luces, Mabuhay, Roman Candle, Sparklers, Trompillo, Whistle Device, and other similar types of pailaw.
Meanwhile, Malong said that they still hope for zero firecracker-related or stray bullet incidents for the New Year.
For the Holiday season, PRO-6 has deployed 4,524 personnel, including 267 police commissioned officers and 4,267 police non-commissioned officers.
