By Catherine Joy Maglalang
STRIKE up the band, get your fuses ready and light up the night sky in bright, colorful and sparkling bursts of aerial fireworks.
The traditional highlight of the year’s holiday celebration would go on as scheduled.
No, the Grinch would not get away with stealing Christmas holidays this year, the local celebration of which is the longest in the world.
This, after President Duterte said it would be too late to impose total ban on firecrackers this coming New Year’s celebration.
”It’s too late already. Everybody… they all have invested. It would not be fair,” Duterte said.
The announcement threw the legitimate local fireworks industry into a celebratory fit as they expressed deep gratitude for the President’s sensitivity to the viability of the local fireworks manufacturing and the welfare of workers, suppliers and other stake holder in the pyrotechnics trade.
“We deeply appreciate the President’s decision,” Philippine Fireworks Association President Joven Ong said.
Ong said Duterte’s move indicates that he “carefully weighs the interests on business, labor, other industry stake holders and the general public, and for this, we express our deep gratitude.”
Aside from the Presidential reprieve on a nationwide ban on all forms of fireworks, workers in Bulacan’s firecracker industry were very happy over the news that the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) has lifted a work-stoppage order on 48 firecracker stores and factories after they were found to have complied with safety standards.
Forty other establishments that were suspended last month are undergoing assessment, the Dole said in a statement.
All in all, 48 establishments can continue operation guaranteeing employment for tens of thousands of people relying on the industry for a living.
In this regard, Ong urged regulatory agencies and law enforcers to follow the presidential directive, as well as the department order.
Ong said: “I just got word that some provincial police, fire and local government units are not issuing permits, which they normally did in the past. The President has already said he will allow selling [pyrotechnic devices] this year, but it seems that the rest of the people in the government didn’t get the directive.”
He added: “The whole industry is in danger. The livelihood of a lot of people is in danger.”
“The legal industry is being given a hard time to get all the permits required, while not a single illegal firework has beeen caught. As a result, more people will be forced to buy from the illegal manufaturers and traders who do not get permits and sell smuggled fireworks instead of the legitimate companies who comply with the regulations,” he added.
3 comments
tama yan simulan nxt yr para maiwasan na mga naaksidente
mas masaya sumalubbong ng bagong taon kung kumpleto ang pamilya hidi yung may naaksidente at may nawala
dapt pati yung indescriminate firing din