BAGUIO CITY – Mayor Mauricio G. Domogan is keeping his fingers crossed that the local government and the Cordillera office of the Department of Health (DOH-CAR) will achieve zero firecracker and pyrotechnics-related injuries during the celebration of the New Year revelry following the success during the Christmas revelry.
The local chief executive claimed that residents and visitors might have learned their lessons during the Yuletide revelries in the past having witnessed the people who were injured by the explosion of firecrackers and the use of pyrotechnic materials during the celebration of the Christmas and New Year that is why there were no firecracker-related incidents in the city that were recorded over the past several days.
‘We should draw inspiration from the zero firecracker-related injuries during the celebration of the Christmas revelry that is why we remain optimistic that Baguio city will have zero casualties during the New Year revelry,” Domogan stressed.
Earlier, the DOH-CAR started monitoring the prevalence of firecracker-related injuries in the region last December 21, 2017 and will commence the recording and monitoring activity by January 5, 2018.
He urged parents and guardians to make sure that their children and their wards will not take hold of dangerous firecrackers and pyrotechnic materials during the New Year revelry to prevent them from being exposed to being injured in the course of exploding the firecrackers and using the pyrotechnic materials to celebrate the coming of the new year.
According to him, it is still best for the people to use alternative means of creating noise during the new year revelry instead of wasting money buying firecrackers and pyrotechnic materials just to celebrate the coming of the new year since such means of celebration is just a waste of one’s hard earned money and exposing oneself to injuries that will compromise their safety.
Domogan emphasized that people should not expose themselves to acquiring life-threatening injuries through the use of firecrackers and pyrotechnic materials during the new year celebration but instead prioritize their safety by being able to work on the use of alternative ways of crating noise in their homes to welcome the new year.
Even if the group of pyrotechnic materials vendors are aggressively advertising their products to their approved vending area in nearby Tuba town, the mayor asserted that people should instead use their money to buy food and valuable items for their families instead of purchasing pyrotechnic materials to be used for the new year revelry that will pose a serious threat to the safety of the members of their families and their neighbors.
He claimed the local government was successful in prohibiting the sale of firecrackers and pyrotechnic materials in the city over the past several years that resulted to the significant decrease in the number of firecracker-related injuries even without the enactment of an ordinance relative thereto which only shows the need for political will to ensure the safety of the residents and visitors from being exposed to dangerous activities like exposing firecrackers and pyrotechnic materials in open areas.
By Dexter A. See
