Firecrackers will be a special New Year problem

If there is anything associated with the New Year, it is the custom of exploding firecrackers to greet the coming year. Before the war, this was a very safe celebration. The firecrackers used then could be safely exploded on the tips of a child’s fingers. This is no longer so. For decades now, firecracker manufacturers produce firecrackers that can maim and kill. Every year, many people die or permanently lose their eyesights, hands or fingers because they use explosives that pass as noisemakers.

For this very reason, we are very happy that Philippine National Police Director General Hermogenes Ebdane is already taking precautionary measures for a safer New Year. This year will be different from all the past New Year celebrations because we have the terrorist problem to cope with. New Year will be an ideal time for terrorists to plant bombs where they can kill the greatest number of people or cause the greatest damage to both public and private property.

Gen. Ebdane has suggested that the use of firecrackers this coming New Year be limited to certain areas such as public plazas. It would be good if the use of firecrackers this year could be limited not only to certain areas but to expand it into fireworks under the management of the fire department. We don’t believe that families will leave their homes during New Year just to go to a place where they can explode their own firecrackers, but they may be willing to stay home and watch spectacular fireworks sponsored by all the municipalities of Metro Manila.

But the most important job of the police is to prevent the manufacture of illegal firecrackers. Those are the ones that cause casualties every year. This means carefully monitoring the manufacture of firecrackers, the stores that sell firecrackers and those who purchase and use illegal explosives.

There should be a campaign in all barangays to inform the people that this coming New Year is different than all the past ones because of the terrorist threat. It is not too much to ask any reasonable person to refrain from using illegal firecrackers. The life, limb and property they save may be their own or one of their loved ones.

In the meantime, the best thing that the police can do is to enforce the law limiting the power of firecrackers. It will be sad indeed if no firecracker manufacturer is arrested and prosecuted for producing illegal firecrackers and then more casualties occur this coming New Year. Manufacture and sales of explosives that pass as firecrackers constitute a form of terrorism.