By Joel Guinto
INQUIRER.net
Last updated 04:33pm (Mla time) 01/01/2007
(2ND UPDATE) WHILE there were no reported deaths, 907 people, including children and bystanders, were injured by firecrackers and celebratory gunfire during holiday revelries this year, up 48 percent from the same period in 2005, officials said Monday.
Of the total injuries recorded from December 21 to January 1, 870 were firecracker-related, 35 were due to stray bullets, and two were due to “watusi” (dancing firecracker) ingestion, Health Secretary Francisco Duque said.
Acknowledging the sharp rise in injuries from 610 during the same period in 2005, Duque said: “The total ban on firecrackers for residential use should be studied.”
Duque noted that 29 percent of the 870 firecracker-induced injuries were children below 10 years old, whose fingers were either maimed or amputated after handling powerful firecrackers unsupervised by adults. Forty-eight percent were bystanders.
"The good news is that there were no deaths reported this year compared to seven last year," Duque said.
The number of injuries due to stray bullets jumped to 35 in 2006 from 19 in the previous year, Duque told a news conference at the East Avenue Medical Center in Quezon City.
Records also showed that 79 percent of the firecracker-related injuries involved males while 130 of the total number of injuries were under the influence of alcohol, Duque said.
The most number of injuries, 107, were caused by “kwitis” or rockets; 90 were due to “piccolo,” which can be ignited by rubbing the firecracker against a flat surface; 82 were due to five star; while 64 were due to “boga” or improvised cannons made from PVC pipes and are ignited using denatured alcohol, Duque said.
The number of amputees rose slightly to 50 in 2006 from 46 in the previous year. Eye injuries also rose to 136 from 113, he said.
Seven people have been arrested for indiscriminate firing of guns, including two policemen, who are being investigated for possible administrative charges, said Superintendent Nelson Bondoc, chief of the Explosives Management Branch of the police Firearms and Explosives Division.
"This has become a deeply ingrained aspect of our culture," Duque said as he tried to explain why the annual carnage has persisted despite intense government crackdowns against the use of powerful firecrackers and guns on New Year's Eve.
The DoH casualty count did not include the Christmas Day fire at a department store in Ormoc City in Leyte province that left 25 people killed. Duque said the incident could not be classified as firecracker-related even though reports said a lit firecracker triggered the blaze.
Bondoc said at least 10 fires have been recorded around the country from December 16 to December 31, leaving 26 people killed and causing 10.12 million pesos in damage to property.
The country's improving economy and heavy inflows of money sent home by millions of foreign-based Filipino workers may have also spurred robust sales in firecrackers, he said.
"Literally, they have more money to burn," he said.
Superstitious Filipinos believe that noisy New Year's celebrations, largely influenced by Chinese tradition, drive away evil and misfortune.
Each year celebrations go too far in the Philippines, as powerful firecrackers explode in crowded neighborhoods, often during drinking sprees. Many Filipinos fire guns in the air and set car tires ablaze in the streets, making many urban areas resemble war zones.
National police chief Director General Oscar Calderon ordered a crackdown on illegal firecracker use and celebratory gunfire ahead of the celebrations, threatening to arrest violators.
TV networks were also urged to show videos of firecracker victims writhing in pain in hospital emergency rooms as a deterrent, officials said.
Officials also organized fireworks shows studded with movie stars in a Manila seaside square and the nearby financial district of Makati, which drew hundreds of thousands of revelers, to discourage smaller but often-reckless neighborhood celebrations.
Despite the efforts, powerful bomb-like firecracker blasts reverberated across Manila close to midnight. As the revelry waned, sirens of ambulance vans loaded with the injured wailed in many smoke-choked neighborhoods.
With The Associated Press and Agence France-Presse
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