LINGAYEN, Pangasinan — The Provincial Health Office (PHO) has called on barangay officials to set up a firecracker zone in their respective areas to ensure the safety of their constituents in celebrating the Yuletide Season.
PHO head Dr. Anna Ma. Teresa de Guzman said barangay officials need to act on this as a firecracker zone is mandated under Executive Order (EO) No. 98 issued by President Rodrigo Duterte regulating the use of firecrackers all over the country.
She said this New Year’s eve, the PHO is targeting zero firecracker injury under the campaign slogan “Sa paputok may disgrasya, heto ang ebidensiya (Accidents are inevitable when using firecrackers, here are evidence)” showing images of amputated hands of firecracker users last year.
De Guzman said a zero firecracker injury is admittedly hard to achieve unless officials down to the barangay level will give their 100 percent cooperation to the campaign.
She recalled that in 2016, the number of firecracker injuries in the province was down by 43 percent as compared to the figures in 2015 but this year, the target is zero injury.
Last year, the PHO recorded amputations and poisoning when a child ingested a small firecracker called “watusi”.
The health office also revealed that the firecracker “piccolo” registered most of the injuries in Pangasinan.
Likewise, there were people wounded due to stray bullets.
For the public to avoid injuries, they should now stop buying firecracker and just save their money for their media noche, said De Guzman.
She believes zero firecracker injury is not impossible to achieve as EO 98 issued by the President banned firecrackers containing black black powder of more than two grams.
The banned firecrackers include piccolo, “Goodbye Philippines”, “super lolo”, and powerful whistle bombs, among others. (Ahicam Pasion/PNA)
