BAGUIO CITY – Mayor Mauricio G. Domogan urged the members of the local legislative body to already enact the required ordinance regulating the sale, distribution and manufacture of firecrackers and pyrotechnic materials in the city to further prevent residents from using the hazardous materials during the Christmas and New Year revelries.
The local chief executive admitted that the enactment of the firecracker ordinance will put an end to the perennial problem of the local government regarding the repeated requests from firecracker and pyrotechnic distributors to sell their regulated products in the city.
“We were able to succeed in the implementation of a ban on the sale of firecrackers and pyrotechnic materials in the city over the past several years that is why we urge the local legislative body to already enact the enabling ordinance that will online the necessary rules and regulations in the sale, distribution and manufacture of the said hazardous materials in the city year-round,” Domogan stressed.
With the onset of the Yuletide season he claimed that the firecracker and pyrotechnic vendors are again expected to be lobbying with the local government for the approval of their intention to again bring back the sale of regulated firecrackers and pyrotechnic materials to be used by the residents and visitors for the Yuletide revelries.
According to him, it has been proven over the past several years that there had been a dramatic reduction on the use of firecrackers and pyrotechnic materials by the residents to celebrate the Christmas and New Year revelries, that is why there is a need for the city to already enact the needed ordinance that will provide the rules and regulations in the sale, distribution and manufacture of the said materials.
Domogan said the proposed ordinance regulating the sale, distribution and manufacture of firecrackers and pyrotechnic materials had been pending deliberations in the local legislative body for quite some time, thus, the need for the measure to be passed for there to be a basis of concerned government agencies and local departments to be aggressive in the campaign to curb the proliferation of unregulated firecrackers and pyrotechnic materials.
The proposed regulatory ordinance was passed by the local legislative body on first reading and is now pending with one of the council committees for second reading and the conduct of the needed public hearings and consultations to get the sentiments of the public on the proposal.
Aside from trying to achieve the significant reduction in firecracker-related incidents during the Yuletide revelries, the regulation of the sale, distribution and manufacture of firecrackers and pyrotechnic materials is geared towards reducing the pollutants in the city’s air caused by the smoke emanating from firecrackers and pyrotechnic materials exploding.
He expressed optimism that the local legislative body will be able to do something regarding the status of the ordinance to appropriately regulate of the existence of firecrackers and pyrotechnic materials in the city.
By Dexter A. See
