By Liza Agoot/PNA
BAGUIO CITY — Children in this city’s biggest village, Barangay Irisan, were given “torotots” or hornpipes on Thursday for use during the New Year revelries.
This was part of the massive information drive of the Bureau of Fire Protection (BFP) in Cordillera against the use of firecrackers in welcoming the new year.
“We talk with the children, we teach them how to be safe this new year and use alternative methods of greeting the new year to avoid accidents, disasters, and even fire,” Senior Supt. Lilibeth Simangan said on the sidelines of the general assembly of Irisan village’s Barangay Council for the Protection of Children (BCPC) on Thursday.
Simangan said advising the children themselves is very important, as they are usually the victims of firecrackers. She said children can help themselves by avoiding firecrackers and telling their parents to avoid these for safety reasons.
With a population of over 30,000 people, Irisan is the biggest of the 128 barangays of Baguio and is composed of 32 “puroks” or sub-villages.
The BFP is making its personnel visible in the region, going around to give safety information as part of its “Oplan Paalala”, reminding the public reminder to veer away from firecrackers and pyrotechnics and shift to other means of making noise in greeting the New Year.
“Gusto po namin na magkaroon tayo ng masayang pagdiriwang at pagsalubong sa bagong taon (We want to have a happy celebration in welcoming the new year),” Simangan said before an audience of children ages nine to 14 years at the BCPC assembly.
“Nandito po kami para sa pagsalubong ng bagong taon na tradisyon na magpa-ingay (We are here to greet the New Year, when we have the tradition of making noise) to drive away bad spirits, but we can use alternative methods in like the use of pots, ‘torotots’. We want us all to be safe and have a prosperous New Year,” she pointed out.
She said the BFP has recorded incidents of people getting blind, burned, or amputated, losing their limbs or fingers. Some even have their houses burned because of the indiscriminate use of firecrackers. Some people even die because of these, she added.
Simangan narrated an incident during her stint in Region 1, where a firecracker landed on a cogon house, killing two elderlies.
“I’m happy that the whole Cordillera and Baguio supports Executive Order 28 issued by President Rodrigo Duterte banning the use of firecrackers,” she noted.
In 2017, the BFP recorded only one fire incident caused by firecrackers in the region. It happened in Abra.
“We want to have zero incident, that is why we continue to go around to tell the public not to use firecrackers. Life is very precious and our properties are very precious, we worked hard to have them. We don’t want to lose them in seconds just due to fire,” Simangan said.
