CAGAYAN DE ORO CITY — Northern Mindanao on Christmas Eve recorded zero incident related to firecrackers and stray bullets, the Police Regional Office 10 (Northern Mindanao) said Tuesday.
Supt. Surki Sereñas, PRO-10 spokesperson, said no incident has been recorded during the Christmas celebration except for a fire incident in Barangay Bugo that was not caused by firecrackers or pyrotechnics.
Sereñas, however, said strict monitoring of regulations against firecrackers and the use of firearms among police personnel will continue until the New Year revelry.
The Philippine National Police (PNP) had earlier issued a directive to discontinue the annual practice of sealing the firearms of police personnel to avoid illegal discharge during the holidays.
Dr. Dave Mendoza of the Department of Health 10, meanwhile, said the firecracker named “Piccolo” remains the most lethal of its kind in the past five years in terms of the number of injuries.
This has led the local government to ban the “Piccolo” and similar firecrackers, only allowing those classified as non-lethal but must only be used in common designated areas.
Supt. Robert delos Reyes of PRO-10 warned that sellers of banned firecrackers and pyrotechnics will be prosecuted under the law.
“There are backdoors where some illegal retailers are still selling even though it doesn’t fit in the requirements of the DTI (Department of Trade and Industry),” delos Reyes said. (Benedict Talines and LJ Bacolod, USTP-CDO interns)
