By Nanette Guadalquiver/PNA
BACOLOD CITY — An official from the City Mayor’s Office (CMO) has noted lower firecracker sales for the New Year celebrations in this city in 2018.
Executive Assistant II Ernesto Pineda, head of the CMO-Sectoral Concerns, said in a radio interview on Wednesday this was based on the feedback he received from licensed firecracker vendors who occupied the designated selling zone at the reclamation area.
Although Pineda did not immediately provide the exact figures, he confirmed that sales in 2017 was much higher compared to 2018’s.
Pineda, who is also the chief coordinator of Market Coordinating and Monitoring Task Force, said only about 30 percent of the vendors were able to turn in profits, but these were the ones who bought lesser stocks, so they can easily dispose these by New Year’s Eve.
In 2018, the number of firecrackers vendors who obtained special permits was also lower, only 65, compared to some 76 in the previous year.
Of the 65, only 56 were able to secure permits ahead while the remaining nine got permits only by December 30, giving them only two days until December 31 to sell their items.
Moreover, Pineda said the public might have not been inclined to buy firecrackers and pyrotechnics since they are now required to light these items only in community fireworks display designated areas.
In fact, only 29 out of the 61 barangays in Bacolod submitted a list of fireworks display areas for 2018 compared to the 45 villages in 2017.
Executive Order No. 28 issued by President Rodrigo Duterte, providing for the regulation and control of the use of firecrackers and other pyrotechnics devices, authorizes local chief executives to promulgate the necessary rules and regulations on firecrackers and other pyrotechnics devices within their territorial jurisdiction in conformity with the national standards, rules, and regulations.
Mayor Evelio Leonardia, noting the lesser designated firecracker zones in the villages, himself urged Bacolodnons to watch instead the grand fireworks display as part of the New Year’s Eve Countdown at the Bacolod City Government Center grounds on Monday midnight.
Witnessing a community fireworks display is safer and also means lesser expenses for everyone, the mayor said.
About 16,000 Bacolodnons came to witness the city government-organized event to welcome 2019.
