UNLIKE in previous years, the New Year’s Eve revelry not only in Western Visayas but across the country was generally less toxic, with many people opting not to light firecrackers. Overall, Filipinos welcomed the New Year with lower firecracker-related injuries, firecracker-connected fire incidents, and with less pollution.
While there was no total firecracker ban, the celebrations were, by and large, a drastic departure from the warlike revelry of the past that saw hundreds of victims, including children and youth, being rushed to hospitals for emergency treatment due to firecracker injuries.
Preliminary data from the Department of Health and the Philippine National Police showed a dramatic drop in the number of persons injured by firecrackers and fireworks. The Bureau of Fire Protection also confirmed no firecracker-related fires during the festivities.
With the reduced use of firecrackers and consumer pyrotechnics on New Year’s Eve, we can’t help but notice its good effects on our bodies and the environment. The air is not hazy, people can breathe easily and there’s no black soot in their noses! We believe our cats and dogs are very pleased, too, knowing how scared and sensitive they are to firecracker noise.
The visible decrease in the volume of hazardous and non-recyclable discards from used firecrackers and fireworks, which are often left lying on the streets after the revelry, is most welcome, also.
The very significant decline in firecracker injuries and the obvious improvement in environmental quality should motivate and push the national and local authorities into expanding the firecracker ban and making it permanent.
We hope President Duterte will keep his word and impose a national ban on firecrackers, which we hope will replicate Davao City’s successful ban on firecrackers and other pyrotechnic devices since 2001.
A safer, non-toxic New Year‘s Eve revelry is for the common good, and is not impossible to achieve.
