Could we just have one New Year where we won’t hear news about ordinary people getting injured due to firecrackers?
If there’s one aspect of the COVID-19 pandemic that health authorities in the Philippines would’ve probably welcomed, that would be the near-zero reports of so-called “firecracker-related injuries” during New Year’s Eve revelry.
With face-to-face activities coming back with a blast (literally) as the Philippines celebrates what may be the first post-pandemic New Year’s Eve, hospitals in the country have braced themselves with the expected rise in the number of people injured by the indiscriminate – reckless, even – use of firecrackers and pyrotechnics.
And as this editorial is being written, some local government units here in Laguna province have reported a significant spike in the number of firecracker-related injuries.
In one city in the province alone, 27 reports of firecracker-related injuries were reported between December 21, 2023, and January 1. What’s alarming is that almost half of these cases involved children, with “kwitis” (skyrockets) topping the list of firecrackers used.
This, although San Pedro City recently passed an ordinance limiting the use of firecrackers and pyrotechnics to “designated areas” inside barangays and prohibiting their use in residential areas.
Some sectors argue that simply limiting the use of firecrackers is not enough and that what should be done is a total ban on the use of firecrackers by ordinary individuals.
Sure, this may go against what has been perceived as the “culture” of noisemaking and merriment every New Year’s Eve here in the Philippines.
But we’ve said it before and we’ll repeat it: should we accept that gory pictures of maimed hands and bloody faces due to firecracker-related injuries be once again part of our “new normal?”
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