ILOILO City – Despite being outlawed, boga is the most common cause of firecracker-related injuries (FWRI) in Western Visayas, data from the Department of Health (DOH) Region 6 showed.
Boga or PVC cannon is a modern version of the bamboo cannon and a popular improvised noisemaker during the holidays.
From Dec. 21, 2022 to Jan. 1, 2023 (as of 5:59 a.m.), 26 of the 55 FWRI in the region were due to boga, according to the DOH-6’s Regional Epidemiology and Surveillance Unit (RESU).
Six or 46 percent of these boga injuries were logged at the DOH sentinel hospitals while 20 (48 percent) were from non-sentinel sites.
In Iloilo City, the Iloilo City Police Office (ICPO) was able to confiscate 35 boga as of Sunday morning.
According to Police Captain Shella Mae Sangrines, ICPO spokesperson and at the same time chief of the Iloilo City Police Station 1, 22 of the confiscated boga were from the City Proper, nine from Jaro district and four from Mandurriao.
Most of the boga were found in the possession of minors, added Sangrines.
This explained why most of the firecracker victims in the region were minors, she added.
Based on the DOH-RESU 6 data, of the 13 recorded cases from sentinel hospitals, eight or 62 percent belonged to the age group one to 10 years old, followed by those in the 11 to 20 years old age group (with four cases or 31 percent), and 21 to 30 years old age group (with one case).
Data further showed that 12 of these firecracker victims who sought treatment at the sentinel sites were active users (they were the ones who held and lit the firecrackers) while only one was a passive user (just watching or passing by).
For the 42 cases recorded in non-sentinel sites/hospitals, 20 or 47.62 percent were aged 11 to 20 years old, 13 or 30.90 percent belonged to the one to 10 years old age group; three were with the 21 to 30 years old age group; and the rest were 31 years old and above.
According to Dr. May Ann Sta. Lucia, OIC-chief of DOH-6’s Local Health Support Division, when compared to the same period last year (2021-2022 holiday season), the cases of FWRI in DOH sentinel hospitals this year (2022-2023 holiday season) were the same but cases from non-sentinel sites this year were higher than the 34 cases recorded in the holiday season a year ago.
Negros Occidental has the most number of FWRI at 16, followed by Iloilo province with 15 while the rest were from other provinces and highly urbanized cities in the region.
Meantime, eye injury and blast/burn (with no amputation) were the most common injuries logged, and other types of firecrackers use by victims were kamara, 5-star, Super Lolo, triangle, kwitis, whistle bomb, and candle bomb.
Aside from the tradition or belief that firecrackers can shoo away bad spirits and with Western Visayas having the most number of firecracker retailers in the country, Sta. Lucia also cited as one of the reasons for the increase in cases the excitement of people to celebrate holidays after two years of several constraints due to the coronavirus pandemic.
“Ang mga tawo gin-suppress. Subong basi mas kinanglan nila para sa ila mental health nga magsinadya sila. So ang iban ya amo na ila justification… Duha ka tuig may constraints kita, gusto subong sang iban nga magsinadya man,” Sta. Lucia said.
The monitoring or surveillance of the DOH for FWRI will be until Jan. 6 at 5:59 a.m.
Sta. Lucia is hopeful there won’t be more new cases.
She advised parents to prohibit their children from picking up firecrackers that did not explode as these could still go off./PN
