Duterte on firecracker ban: It will be a cabinet decision

A nationwide firecracker ban might be in the works, but it might not take shape until President Rodrigo Roa Duterte meets with his cabinet.

LIVES WILL BE AFFECTED. A nationwide ban on firecrackers will not only affect those who use them, but those who sell them as well. Image grabbed from Wikimedia Commons

According to reports, President Duterte will meet with his cabinet secretaries before enforcing a nationwide firecracker ban during Christmas season.

“I am going to have a cabinet meeting kasi mawalan ng negosyo (because businesses would be lost)— economic, social, lahat na (everything), so I would need the cabinet to decide. It would be a cabinet decision,” he said during a press conference held before his departure for Brunei on Sunday, October 16.

This comes after news saying that the Department of Health is working on an Executive Order that would limit the use of firecrackers and pyrotechnics to professional handlers instead of individual members of households to prevent injuries, especially during Christmas season.

During his term as mayor of Davao City, Duterte banned the “manufacture, sale, distribution, possession, or use of firecrackers or pyrotechnic devices within the territory of Davao City” in 2002 through Ordinance No. 060-02.

Violators of the said ordinance were filed P1,000 and/or spend one month in prison for the first offense, P3,000 and/or spend three months in prison for the second offense, and P5,000 and/or spend six months in prison.

The day before his departure, the Philippine National Police’s Firearms and Explosives office met with members of the Philippine Fireworks Association and Philippine Pyrotechnics Manufacturers and Dealers Association Incorporated (PPDMAI) in Camp Crame.

PPDMAI urged the president to reconsider the nationwide firecracker ban, saying “millions” of people rely on the fireworks industry for jobs.

“Nananawagan kami kay Pangulo na sana unawain ang nasa industriya sapagkat ang nakasalalay dito, milyong tao ang umaasa’t naghahanap-buhay dito,” the PPMDAI appealed. (We are calling upon the President to understand those in the (firecracker) industry because millions of lives work in and depend on it.)

 

Source: Manila Bulletin, GMA News Online, The Philippine Star