BULACAN-Bocaue Mayor Eleanor “Joni” Villanueva-Tugna welcomes the proposals of a lawmaker, environmental group and the Department of Health (DOH) to officially ban fireworks.
Tugna said that any proposal for public’s safety is welcome, as the said town was also recognized as fireworks capital of the country.
“Any proposal for our public’s safety is welcome. Safety is and shall always be a priority, the mayor said.
It was learned that even the fireworks industry leaders and workers agreed that the unregulated and unsupervised use of fireworks is illegal.
She said that they should stand together against the smuggling of fireworks and pyrotechnics products.
The local government of Bocaue continues to maintain that any policy must be a result of consultations and exhaustive study as they welcome collaborations to study such a proposal, given that the fireworks industry remains central to Bocaue, Tugna added.
On the other hand, fireworks stakeholders who don’t want to be identified, are asking proponents for the proposed banning of the fireworks industry on what are the intervention laid out for the workers in the industry, what are the economic compensations for the millions if not billions of investment put up by pyro investors, and what about the yearly traditions that Filipinos celebrate during the New Year revelries?
Recently, Senate President Vicente “Tito” Sotto III made a proposal that prohibits unsupervised use of firecrackers and pyrotechnic devices in any place regardless of any occasion and only allows them in designated areas with authorization from local government units.
While Health Sec. Francisco Duque III has also urged legislators to pass a law that will totally ban the use of firecrackers as he launched their “I was Paputok” campaign this year as well as the “Ingat Paputok” campaign of Bulacan Gov. Daniel Fernando.
Fernando said that the provincial government continues warning the Bulakenyos before New Year’s eve to be careful of using any kind of pyro device as part of their campaign “Ingat Paputok”.
EcoWaste Coalition, an environmental watchdog, has also called for a total ban on firecrackers and fireworks to avoid injuries on future New Year celebrations.
As these developed, fireworks-related injuries in Bulacan have climbed to 75 as of noontime Thursday.
Records from the provincial disaster risk reduction management office of Bulacan showed that 64 of the victims were injured from December 31, 2019 to January 1, 2020 while 11 were injured from December 21 to 28 last year.