Firecrackers for the New Year's fete here to stay?

SMOKING CRACKER VENDORS. As shown on television policemen in Bulacan patrolled areas where firecrackers and other pyrotechnic products were sold. People smoking cigarettes in the area were nabbed and fined or made to do community service. “I don’t know if this no-smoking rule near where firecrackers are sold are also implemented,” said an Ear reader. “Because I saw a middle-aged woman selling firecrackers in the downtown area smoking cigarette as she tended to her explosives.”

HERE TO STAY? The exploding of firecrackers to welcome the New Year is here to stay. Or so it seems. Despite government campaign against firecrackers the sale of pyrotechnic products last New Year’s eve rose by 20 percent over sales in 2007 (tv report). And despite the ban on powerful firecrackers, pyrotechnic manufacturers not only did not observe the ban, they came up with more powerful firecrackers they call Bin Laden bomb and Goodbye Philippines bomb. “Sa ngan lang klarong kusog kaayo ning bag-ong mga produkto,” an observer said.