THE government is being urged to strictly enforce rules and regulations covering firecrackers and pyrotechnics rather than imposing a total ban that would potentially “kill” a once flourishing industry and economically dislocate thousands of Filipinos.
While the fireworks industry in the country is a billion-peso business, it has considerably shrunk over the past years, amid the clampdown imposed by the Duterte administration on the grounds of health and safety concerns.
Just before the New Year, the President declared that he would impose a total ban on firecrackers this year due to injuries arising from its use as many Filipinos use it to welcome the New Year in the form of revelry and merry making.
What’s needed?
THE Philippine Fireworks Association (PFA) hopes the government throws its support behind the industry, instead of sending it to its “silent demise,” and it cited its contribution to the economy and to marginalized Filipinos who wanted to legally earn.
It is not good for the industry to die at a time when the country still reels from the economic effects of the Covid-19 pandemic, the group said.
PFA president Joven Ong said that while they understand that President Duterte’s ban only covers firecrackers and not pyrotechnics, the move would still result in the loss of economic opportunities for thousands of Filipinos.
For a Filipino to be economically dislocated, it would also mean loss of income for his family, and “one family is still a family,” according to Ong, who is already looking at shutting down his company because of uncertainties.
Same problems
THE problem besetting the fireworks industry has not changed over the years. It has basically remained that way five years after Duterte kept on pushing for a total firecracker ban beginning in 2016 due to “loss of lives and limbs.”
In 2016, when the President broached his preference for a total firecracker ban, the industry responded by saying that instead of pushing for a ban, the government should stop graft and corruption by way of the smuggling of illegal firecrackers.
At that time, the PFA maintained that most of the injuries recorded were caused by smuggled and unauthorized firecrackers, the entry of which into the country remains unabated, especially during the holiday season.
The chief of the Philippine National Police (PNP) Firearms and Explosives Office at that time, Chief Supt. Cesar Hawthorne Binag, agreed with the PFA, saying that piccolo, an imported but banned firecracker, accounted for at least 56 percent of the reported injuries.
“Under the law, it is prohibited to import finished products,” said Binag, noting the “hole” lies in smuggling.
Under Republic Act 7183, licensed manufacturers, dealers and even retailers are only allowed to sell firecrackers of lesser explosive content.
The law also allowed pyrotechnics such as sparklers, luces, fountain, Jumbo Regular, Mabuhay, Roman Candle, trompillo, Airwolf, whistle device and Butterfly.
However, other pyrotechnic devices, which contain explosive chemicals that pose risk to life and limb, are prohibited, as well as firecrackers with more than 0.2 grams of explosives.
Ong said that after five years, the smuggling of illegal and banned firecrackers has not stopped although it had decreased.
Where the problem lies
He revisited PFA’s proposal for government agencies to work together and strictly enforce existing rules and regulations, rather than totally shutting down the industry.
“It’s in the implementation,” Ong said, referring to RA 7183, if the government really wanted to stop firecracker-related injuries, aside from reeducating the public on the use of firecrackers and pyrotechnics.
The PFA president noted that while the PNP grants permits for manufacturers, the authority ends in seeing that they only have the facility, and the production aspect is not included.
Ong pushed for firecrackers and firework products to have the “Philippine Standards” seal from the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) to ensure that their members’ products went through strict government review and approval.
While other countries also use firecrackers and pyrotechnics, hardly any reports of injuries are heard from them, because their governments honestly implement and enforce regulations, the association noted.
In the country, government inspections of firms involved in the manufacture of fireworks are only done a few months, or even weeks into the end of the year instead of what, Ong said, should be a regular undertaking. Or at least, it should begin by the month of March.
In Europe, pyrotechnics is considered or falls under the category of an art, and as such is supported by the government. In the Philippines, it is lumped with and considered as a firecracker.
Ong said that because of the lack of government support, the fireworks industry, an estimated P4-billion business in 2016 employing hundreds of thousands of Filipinos, has declined to being merely a billion-peso industry, with an estimated 100,000 work force.
The trade of the business goes from one hand to another and so on, with each one expected to earn by adding an amount over the marked-up price.
“From the manufacturer, it goes down to the dealer, to the retailer and down the line up to ordinary Filipinos who sell them along the streets,” Ong said.
For the PFA president, killing an industry amid a raging pandemic—given all these considerations—will not help the country at all.
Image credits: AP/Bullit Marquez