EDITORIAL - Big firecrackers are indeed IEDs

PNP chief Director General Alan Purisima is right on the button in suggesting that those powerful firecrackers certain Filipinos just love to explode during the holidays be classified as improvised explosive devices.

Purisima is right on the button because that is precisely what powerful firecrackers that come under such suggestive names as “Goodbye Philippines” really are — improvised explosive devices.

The only difference is that these powerful firecrackers do not have timing devices and that the people who set them off have no other motive than to express their holiday merriment in the most bone-jangling of ways.

But the effect is the same in case human beings get to be at the wrong place at the wrong time when these powerful firecrackers explode. These firecrackers can kill and main. They are no different than terrorist weapons.

If the government takes heed of Purisima’s suggestion and classifies these powerful firecrackers as explosives, then they can be better regulated or outrightly declared illegal, in which case the penalties for their manufacture and possession can be higher and more severe.

Moreover, the reclassification of powerful firecrackers as explosives and possible weapons of terror will generate a trickle down effect on smaller but still dangerous firecrackers and thus discourage their wanton use altogether.

Anything that explodes is always dangerous. The size only adds or lessens the danger but does not take away the peril. Even small firecrackers, if exploded in certain situations can still injure and blind.

The nation must not be deluded into a sense of complacency by the fact that there was a clearly marked drop in the number of deaths and injuries from firecracker-related accidents the past holiday season.

In fact, the time cannot be better than now to seize the initiative to drive home the message that firecrackers do not really make the holidays more joyful or meaningful. While people have taken heed of the warnings, they will now be receptive to reason.