GENERAL SANTOS CITY — Police have stepped up their intelligence monitoring against the entry of illegal imported firecrackers and fireworks through the coastal villages here and nearby areas.
Supt. Aldrin Gonzales, public information officer of the Police Regional Office (PRO)-12, said they have coordinated with the Philippine Coast Guard and the Philippine National Police Maritime Group to help track down illegal firecracker shipments.
“We have strengthened our coordination to prevent the entry of these illegal items as the Christmas season nears,” he told reporters at the sidelines of the “Iwas Paputok” press briefing here on Thursday afternoon.
He said Chief Supt. Eliseo Tam Rasco, PRO-12 regional director, directed local police units to monitor the supply of firecrackers and fireworks in their areas of responsibility.
Gonzales said the police office ordered the immediate confiscation of imported firecrackers and fireworks, those produced by unlicensed manufacturers and other items that are considered illegal.
In the last three years, police units in Region 12 or Soccsksargen seized and destroyed around PHP77,580 worth of illegal firecrackers and fireworks.
PRO-12’s Regional Civil Security Unit (RCSU) cited that all imported firecrackers and fireworks are considered illegal.
The other prohibited items are those with more than one-third teaspoon or more than 0.2 gram net explosive ingredient; oversized firecrackers like “atomic big triangulo,” “super lolo” and “giant whistle bomb”; those with fuse that burn at less than three seconds and beyond six seconds; and, those with mixture of chlorates and sulphur or phosphorous.
SPO1 Constancio Lagare Jr., chief of the RCSU-12’s explosives and controlled chemicals section, said the bulk of firecracker and firework supplies entering the region were from manufacturers in Bulacan.
He said there were also illegal imported shipments that entered the region these past years through the “back door” or the coastal areas. The imported firecrackers, majority of them the banned “piccolo,” were reportedly shipped in through nearby Indonesian islands, he said.
In the entire Region 12, he said there is only one licensed firecracker manufacturer based in Barangay San Vicente, Banga town in South Cotabato.
The Department of Trade and Industry-Region 12 has not listed any fireworks manufacturer in the region that was issued with the Philippine Standard or PS license. However, the agency is currently verifying reports regarding an unlisted fireworks manufacturer based in Surallah, South Cotabato.
