BAGUIO CITY – Mayor Mauricio G. Domogan is urging the local legislative body to enact now the much awaited ordinance imposing a firecracker ban in the city for the succeeding Yuletide revelries.
The local chief executive claimed the sustained decline in the number of firecracker-related injuries in the city over the past several years is an indication that residents are now realizing that there are other alternative ways of celebrating the Yuletide revelries.
During the Christmas eve revelry, he noticed there were a few residents that used firecrackers and pyrotechnic materials to welcome the celebration of Christmas but there were no casualties.
However, he claimed the four firecracker-related injuries that were reported in the city were only registered at the height of the New Year revelry.
For the past three years, the local government refused to issue permits to the organization of firecracker and pyrotechnic materials vendors.
“We hope our local legislators witnessed the initial success of our efforts to spare our people from injuries that might affect their productivity and their bright future, thus, we need then to enact the ordinance on the total ban on the sale and use of firecrackers and pyrotechnic materials to put an end to the illegal sale of the said items in the city,” Domogan stressed.
Earlier, the Baguio Fire Department was able to obtain more than 28,000 signatures from local residents supporting the passage of an ordinance banning the sale and use of firecrackers and pyrotechnic materials in the city to achieve the long overdue goal of zero casualties and injuries to ensure a safe and peaceful Yuletide revelries.
Subsequently, a proposed ordinance was submitted by some local legislators imposing a total ban on the use of firecrackers and pyrotechnic materials in the city during the Yuletide revelries.
Domogan claimed now that the local legislative body was able to timely enact the city’s budget, it is also equally important for the local legislators to consider enacting the ordinance banning the sale and use of firecrackers and pyrotechnic materials in the city because of the demonstrated reduction in the number of firecracker-related injuries even without the enabling ordinance. /By Dexter A. See#
