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Friday, March 29, 2024

Inventor turns to technology for firecracker-free New Year

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A festive New Year celebration remains possible despite the government ban on firecrackers, according to Filipino inventor Francisco Pagayon.

Pagayon designed four types of cannon-like electric firecrackers that produce loud bangs and are safe to use inside homes.

“As an inventor, I think that using cannon-like e-firecrackers is the safest way to celebrate the New Year tradition, without leaving pollution that is harmful to the environment,” says Pagayon, the president and chief executive of Filipino Inventors Society Producers Cooperative Inc.

Pagayon says Filipino inventors develop new technologies to provide solutions to age-old problems such as the unsafe celebration of New Year in the country.  “As a start, we produce limited number of e-firecrackers to create awareness and make people know about safer alternatives to traditional firecrackers.  We hope that in the coming years, we will be able to spread its use and produce more e-firecrackers, thereby reducing its cost,” he says.

Inventor Popoy Pagayon (left) demonstrates the e-firecracker ‘Digong’ to Echague, Isabela Mayor Francis Dy (second from left) during the National Inventors Week 2017 held at F.L. Dy Coliseum.

Pagayon’s company Oral Educational Distributor Inc. is rushing the production of hundreds of units of e-firecrackers that come in four sizes.  These include the bazooka-like  ‘Digong” which was named after President Rodrigo Duterte; a smaller version ‘Boy’ named after Science and Technology Secretary Fortunato Dela Peña; a large-sized two cannon piece called ‘Bato’ named after Philippine National Police chief Ronald dela Rosa; and a Roman-candle like model called ‘Trump’ which was named after US President Donald Trump.

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President Rodrigo Duterte issued Executive Order No. 28 early this year to regulate the use of firecrackers and pyrotechnics.

The Philippine National Police said that under EO 28, firecrackers could only be used at firework display areas designated by local government units. Pyrotechnic devices can be used outside firework designated areas.

The order specifically prohibits the use of firecrackers with gunpowder content exceeding two grams or 1.3 teaspoons. These firecrackers include Super Lolo, Whistlebomb, Goodbye Earth, Atomic Big Triangulo, Piccolo, Judas’ belt and other powerful fireworks imported from other countries. Firecrackers with hazardous chemicals like ‘watusi’ are also banned.

To implement the order, local government units such as Quezon City issued an ordinance imposing a total ban on the use or play of firecrackers and pyrotechnic devices in all public places. 

Pagayon says instead of using the banned firecrackers which are hazardous to health and the environment, holiday makers should try electric firecrackers which produce rapid explosive sounds, without causing an actual explosion. 

“Our e-firecrackers are a better alternative to the unsafe and environmentally-harmful traditional firecrackers that Filipinos used in the past to welcome the New Year,” he says.

He says the cannon-type e-firecrackers provide the same thrill to celebrants, because the users have the choice to light up the trigger before the devices can produce successive explosive sounds.

“This is our innovation, because the thrill of firing up a pyrotechnic is still there.  The difference is that it is safe to spark e-firecrackers even inside your homes.  They do not emit toxic smoke and harmful chemicals to the atmosphere,” says Pagayon.

These devices consist of electronics that load electricity to produce loud sounds, similar to the explosion of piccolo firecrackers.  “You can store e-firecrackers after the New Year celebration and use it again for the next year,” says Pagayon.

Pagayon says the e-firecrackers are being sold at FISPC OneStore Hub at the ground floor of Delta Building at the corner of Quezon Ave. and West Ave. in Quezon City.

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