BACOLOD CITY — More than 120 Community Fireworks Display Designated Areas (CFDDAs) have been identified in 32 local government units in Negros Occidental, including Bacolod City, for the New Year revelry.
As of Friday, the Bacolod City Police Office (BCPO) released a list showing 71 CFDDAs in this city.
Executive Assistant Ernesto Pineda, chief coordinator of Market Coordinating and Monitoring Task Force, said only 45 of the 61 villages here submitted their respective lists of the designated areas.
He said barangays which failed to submit a list of CFDDAs are prohibited from using firecrackers within their community or else, they would be fined or arrested.
In Bacolod, Police Station 1 has four CFDDAs under its jurisdiction; Police Station 2, 10; Police Station 3, six; Police Station 4, 10; Police Station 5, three; Police Station 6, 10; Police Station 7, seven; Police Station 8, 16; Police Station 9, three; and Police Station 10, two.
Meanwhile, the list released by the Negros Occidental Police Provincial Office as of Thursday showed at least 50 CFDDAs in the 31 cities and municipalities in the province.
Based on the lists released by the Negros Occidental and Bacolod Police, the identified CFDDAs mostly include basketball courts, parks, public plazas, multi-purpose courts, and vacant lots.
The identification of the CFDDAs is based on Executive Order No. 28 issued by President Rodrigo Duterte, providing for the regulation and control of the use of firecrackers and other pyrotechnics devices.
EO No. 28 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.
Sr. Superintendent Rodolfo Castil Jr., provincial police director, had earlier said the conduct of community fireworks display inside the firecracker zone or community fireworks display zone shall be under the supervision of a trained person duly-licensed by the police as fireworks display operator. (PNA)
