PRO-6 wants firecracker free

ILOILO CITY, Philippines – If the Police Regional Office-6 will have its way, it would opt to illegalize the manufacture, sales, and use of firecrackers.

Superintendent Gilbert Gorero, PRO-6 public information officer, said the police have come up with such suggestion after noting that firecrackers—legal or illegal—could harm the public, although they are not against pyrotechnics that passed government standards.

Based on PRO-6 records, as of January 2, there were 58-firecracker related injuries, 38 victims of which were minors. Twenty-five of the victims were injured by illegal firecrackers, 26 by legal firecrackers, three from boga, and four from undetermined kinds of firecrackers.

The 58 injuries however was a dramatic decrease in number from the 127 from December 21, 2014 to January 2, 2015, according to records of the Department of Health.

“But of course, that’s beyond our control. We could only hope that our elected officials would help us out on advocating and legislating an ordinance for a firecracker-free Western Visayas,” Gorero said.

Relatedly, there were four victims of stray bullets this year, a big decline from last year’s 11 incidents. One incident happened in Molo district and one more in Jaro district, this city, while the two other cases were in the towns of Laua-an and Culasi in Antique province.

Only the suspect in Jaro was arrested while the other three were still unidentified. “We are still conducting investigation and we would file cases against those responsible for illegally discharging their firearm,” Gorero said.

Meanwhile, PRO-6 cited a strong anti-criminality campaign and public safety operations for a peaceful celebration of the New Year. (FREEMAN)