Pyros worth P3 million seized from mall

CEBU, Philippines – At least P3 million pesos worth of pyrotechnics were seized by the Cebu City Police Office under the supervision of the City Treasurer's Office, from an uptown mall in Cebu City last Monday night.

Chief Insp. Romeo Santander, head of the City Intelligence Branch which carried out the raid, said the items were confiscated from three stalls located at the basement, first and last floor of the mall. The pyrotechnics for each stall amounted to P1 million, he said.

Santander said the owner of the stalls has been already warned not to sell at the mall as the only designated area where pyrotechnics and firecrackers may be sold is at the South Road Properties. They also found out during verification that the owner applied for a permit to sell the items in Barangay Guadalupe, not at the mall.

Santander said the owner of seized items still argued with CTO personnel, to no avail.

These items will be destroyed later, he said.

"This should serve as a warning sa mga tag-iya that they should follow the designated area where they can sell these items," he said.

Cebu City Treasurer, Ofelia Oliva said that for the past days her office has been receiving several complaints from those allowed to sell pyrotechnics at the SRP against those selling the same products in the mall.

Aside from the confiscation of products, Oliva also said that the owner will be fined P21,060 for the three stores; this will include the fine fees and the per area fees.

Oliva also said that they have received some disturbing reports of firecracker and pyrotechnic dealers delivering their goods directly to customers' houses.

"We heard news nga dunay firecrackers nga tua sa mga malls, using computer and TV stores for home delivery" Oliva said.

Some firecracker dealers no longer need to display their products, their customers only need to go to a computer shop or TV shop in malls to place their orders. 

Amidst this new way of selling, Oliva insists that these dealers still need to have a special permit to sell firecrackers or face the consequences of paying fines.

Cebu City Market Administrator Raquel Arce said that no vendor is allowed to sell pyrotechnics and firecrackers in the different markets and department stores of Cebu City to prevent accidents. The city government will put stalls in the SRP for these vendors.

The stalls for these vendors will set be up at the SRP near the Filinvest lot with a spacing of seven meters away from each other.

As of now 50 vendors have been allowed to sell in the area by the city government after they supplied the necessary requirements such as a permit from the City office and valid manufacturer's permit. They were also required to attend a seminar for this matter.

The firecrackers vendors in SRP paid P1,860 for the duration of their stay there and a collection of P50 will be collected daily.

The validity of the permit will take its effect this coming December 10 until December 31.

Aside from the firecrackers and pyrotechnics stalls, there will be other activity booths and bands will perform nightly in the SRP. With USJR Masscom interns Donna B. Vitualia and Ryan Christopher J. Sorote/BRP (FREEMAN)