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Friday, March 29, 2024

Fireworks makers ask Quezon City to explain ordinance

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Local fireworks manufacturers and dealers asked the Quezon City government to review its new fireworks ordinance to make it in line with existing laws and policies at the national level.

Joven Ong of the Philippine Fireworks Association said Quezon City’s Ordinance No. SP 2618 S-2017 banning the use of all firecrackers and pyrotechnics in public spaces does not seem to be aligned with Republic Act No. 7183 and Executive Order 28 and its implementing guidelines issued by the Department of Interior and Local Government.

“All local legislation should generally be in step with or hew closely to executive issuances from Malacanang and national laws passed by Congress,” Ong said.

“Quezon City’s ordinance appears to be a knee jerk response to EO 28,” Ong said, noting that it contradicts the order.

He said EO 28 allows the use of pyrotechnics and effectively limits the use of firecrackers. 

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EO 28 is trying to clamp down on firecrackers which is the predominant cause of fireworks related injuries.  EO 28 though gives everyone a chance to shift from the use of firecrackers (paputok) to the safer pyrotechnics (pailaw). 

“The QC ordinance would have been in consonance to EO 28 if it allowed pyrotechnics and only banned firecrackers on public spaces without the necessary permit,” said Ong.

Section 2 of EO 28 provides that all other types of pyrotechnics except for firecrackers may be used outside community fireworks displays and thus exempted from the rules found in Section 1 of EO 28 specifically tackling firecrackers.  

The confusion is on the use of the right terminology.  “A lot of people still do not know what fireworks, firecrackers, and pyrotechnics really mean and use one or the other indiscriminately.  We see a lot of these on news reports by media itself.  This sows confusion,” according to  the Philippine Fireworks Association.

The association said firecrackers does not mean all the fireworks itself but only those fireworks that have sound or noise as primary effect.  Pyrotechnics on the other hand pertains to all other effects except for sound or noise.  Those that have lights as a primary effect but have noise or sound as a secondary effect are still considered as pyrotechnics.

“So if we are to look at RA 7183 or the Fireworks Law, we see kuwitis, triangulo, sawa, bawang, etc. as the firecrackers and we see fountains, trompillo, roman candles, luces, etc. as pyrotechnics,” the manufacturers group said.

“Our association is now coordinating with the office of Mayor Herbert Bautista and the city council regarding their ordinance and hope that they have it in their heart to amend it and allow pyrotechnics as EO 28 has,” Ong said.

“It is our belief that a total ban on both firecrackers and pyrotechnics will lead to more severe injuries as what we have experienced in the past.   It also breeds corruption.  In fact, more and more governments throughout the world are coming out of bans and starting to regulate firecrackers and pyrotechnics as studies and facts show, injuries become worse and more if bans were instituted.  This is because if there are bans, no one will use pyrotechnics as these are easy to catch.  They will instead use firecrackers,” the group said.

“The illegal ones will prosper and produce bigger firecrackers as the penalties for making, selling and using a big firecracker is the same as a small one.  It therefore makes sense that they make only big ones.  These will create more smoke, more injuries and more fires.  These are the findings of WHO studies in the past.  I hope our local governments will see the logic in our argument and find it in their hearts and minds to do what is right.  This way the QC residents will still have the freedom to celebrate their traditions and culture in a safer way just as other countries are doing,” the association said.

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