EDITORIAL - Lethal weapon

It’s called “Goodbye, Philippines,” and anyone who dares handle it should be prepared to bid goodbye not only to the country but to this life. It’s a firecracker, expanded this year to an enormous mass weighing about three kilos, made to order or retailed clandestinely for the upcoming New Year’s Eve revelry.

“Goodbye, Philippines” carries enough explosive ingredients to qualify it as a lethal weapon. It can certainly set off a conflagration in any shanty community. Revelers have been killed in this country when the string of firecrackers called “sinturon ni Hudas” or “Judas’ belt” was accidentally set off. “Goodbye, Philippines” is guaranteed to do worse damage.

The powerful firecracker surfaced for the first time last year and should have been banned immediately. Yet lax regulation of the industry has allowed manufacturers to continue producing the deadly firecracker, together with several others that were banned many years ago. Backyard mom-and-pop operations in particular escape regulation and are among the biggest sources of banned firecrackers.

Each year firecrackers seem to become more powerful, and consequently more dangerous, especially since quality control is almost non-existent when it comes to banned products. Perhaps this is one way for local manufacturers to compete with imported, top-quality fireworks that have become increasingly popular. Unable to compete with the spectacular fireworks displays, local manufacturers offer consumers a louder bang for their buck. Such products, however, endanger lives and property.

Even the longer version of Judas’ Belt, called “sawa” or python, is powerful enough to create craters on asphalt pavement. “Goodbye, Philippines” looks like it has enough explosive power to blow up a car. If improperly handled, it is certain to maim or disfigure people. Every effort must be made to stop the proliferation of such firecrackers. In the New Year, people should be merry, not sorry.