One aspect of New Year's Eve celebrations that has been horrifyingly "unique" in the Philippines is the prevalence of so-called "firecracker-related injuries" at the turn of the year.
Except for the two years of the Covid-19 pandemic, hardly a year goes by without reports of injuries caused by indiscriminate, often reckless, use of firecrackers and pyrotechnics by individuals, mostly children.
It appears that efforts by the government to curb the number of firecracker-related injuries – ranging from blanket bans on the purchase and use of firecrackers to showing gory scenes of amputated limbs – have no effect on the average Filipinos' propensity to risk their lives for the sake of a boisterous New Year revelry.
This trait has been characterized as a symptom of one negative trait of the Filipino at large: that of choosing short-term pleasures without considering the long-term consequences.
On the bright side, though, it should be noted that such cases have finally been on the downward trend since pandemic restrictions were finally relaxed on 2023.
As of the writing of this editorial, the Department of Health (DOH) has logged a total of 340 firecracker-related injuries nationwide, down from the 519 cases reported on January 1, 2024.
Filipinos will always insist that they cannot celebrate New Year’s Eve without noise, due to long-held beliefs that the tradition will, as they say, "ward off evil spirits" that will cause bad luck for the next 365 days.
But here’s the thing: have we really accepted amputated arms or legs as a price we have to pay to ensure a joyful celebration of New Year’s eve?
We all have to do better this 2025, frankly speaking. And part of the resolutions we should make this year is ensuring that 2026 will be celebrated with “zero casualties” due to indiscriminate firecracker use.
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