A MEASURE providing tougher regulation and control of firework and pyrotechnic products sold nationwide, especially during the Christmas and New Year revelry, has been filed in the House of Representatives.
House Bill (HB) 4434, or the “Firecracker Regulation Act of 2014,” authored by Nationalist People’s Coalition Rep. Sherwin Gatchalian of Valenzuela City, senior vice chairman of House Committee on Metro Manila Development, seeks to ensure a safe environment for Filipinos, especially children who are most vulnerable to firecracker-related injuries, by amending certain provisions of Republic Act 7183, or An Act Regulating the Sale, Manufacture, Distribution and Use of Firecrackers.
The bill mandates local government units to designate pyrotechnic zones in their own locality to avoid fire and injuries.
The bill will also require fireworks dealers to submit the names and addresses of their affiliates to the Philippine National Police’s Firearms and Explosive Office (PNP-FEO) upon securing business permit.
A maximum of P5,000 will be imposed as limit for a single purchase of any firecracker or pyrotechnic device, excluding those with permit from PNP-FEO, the measure provides.
The bill will also prohibit selling fireworks to any one below 18 years old, while requiring children, who will use firecrackers, to be under the strict supervision of their guardians.
Those who will fail to secure their dealer’s permit through legal means will be fined P100,000 to P500,000, or an imprisonment from six months to three years, the bill said.
Dealers found guilty of selling fireworks to minors will be fined P100,000 and have their permit revoked.
Meanwhile, parents found guilty of purchasing fireworks for their children will be fined P10,000.
According to the Department of Health (DOH), there were 1,018 fireworks-related injuries from December 21, 2013 to January 6, 2014. Almost 1,000 of these were due to fireworks, two from firework ingestion and 19 from stray bullets.
The DOH maintained that the use of firecrackers should be allowed only as an activity managed by respective local governments and only in designated areas within their community.
HB 4434 is pending before House Committee on Public Order and Safety.
“Every year, we endure from the pollutants caused by the use of firecrackers to welcome the new year; we see news flashes of countless injuries, especially of the hapless children. Until when should we allow this cycle of peril to our health and environment?” Gatchalian asked in his bill’s explanatory note.
Gatchalian noted the need for the government to do more about fireworks that are also considered as hazards to public safety.
“These amendments do not entirely do away with time-honored merry-making, but enforces to provide stricter regulations in an effort to protect our people,” he said.
The health department on Tuesday appealed to parents to exercise “extreme vigilance and caution” and not to allow their children to use firecrackers during the holiday season, especially in welcoming the new year.
Despite the yearly warning given by the DOH, statistics showed that children aged 6 to 10 are most affected by firecracker-related injuries, and majority (67 percent) of injuries happened between December 31 and January 1.
“Every year, despite advertisements and campaigns intended to protect the children from fireworks injuries, the profile of cases remain the same,” Acting Health Secretary Janette Loreto-Garin said.
The DOH surveillance report showed that, out of 997 injuries due to fireworks, 25 percent, or 250 cases, were children less than 10 years old. One reported death due to fireworks was a 12-year-old male, who sustained severe head injury caused by mixed firecracker powder.
Garin said adults, who see children playing firecrackers, should seize the firecrackers, stow them someplace no longer accessible to children, repeatedly discourage them from buying firecrackers, and educate them on firecracker injuries.
The last surveillance report showed that the usual body parts injured were hands (55 percent), eyes (15 percent), legs (11 percent), head (9 percent) and forearms/arms (8 percent). Amputation was necessary to 25 cases of blast wounds.
“Imagine the rest of a child’s life without hands, arms, legs, or injured body parts after losing them to fireworks.… Not only is self-esteem drastically diminished, productivity at school… will also be greatly affected,” the DOH chief said.
She added that the fun from lighting up firecrackers is as fleeting as the sparks of the firecrackers, but serious injuries and amputations caused by firecracker explosions have life-changing consequences.
“Exploding or lighting up firecrackers is an extreme gamble on one’s future,” Garin said as she emphasized how important life is.
Claudeth Mocon- Ciriaco