BAGUIO CITY – – With more than 15,000 signatures supporting an ordinance banning the sale and use of firecrackers in the city during the holiday season, hopes are high that the city council would finally pass such measure.
The Bureau of Fire Protection – Baguio City is leading the signature campaign to support an ordinance prohibiting the sale and use of any kind of firecracker and exploding pyrotechnics in the city with the aim to reduce the number of injuries related to firecrackers to zero.
Councilor Elmer Datuin, chairman for special events and tourism, said he will sponsor said measure in the city council.
There is pending ordinance on the ban of firecracker in the council but it is not a priority, Datuin said. With the people now showing their support for the passage of an ordinance banning the sale and use of firecrackers, he expressed confidence that it will be finally passed this time.
An ordinance is seen to give more teeth in not allowing the sale and use of firecrackers during the holiday revelries that sometimes result to injuries and even death. This would penalize people who use firecrackers.
For the past years, an administrative order by Mayor Mauricio Domogan was implemented to ban the sale of firecrackers.
As of press time, there were 11 firecracker incident victims in the city during the recent revelries.
Fire Superintendent Joe Ferdinand Bangyod of the Baguio City Fire Department said people must think of safer and Earth-friendly ways of celebrating the Christmas and New Year holidays in the coming years./JDP/JBZ PIA CAR
