PPMDAI's Celso Cruz showing legal fireworks. |
GUIGUINTO, Bulacan—The
Philippine National Police (PNP) vowed to crackdown on illegal pyrotechnics
products as the yuletide season draw near.
This developed, the PNP
also advised pyrotechnics manufactures in Luzon attending a safety workshop
here yesterday to be responsible in production in order to achieve the zero
pyrotechnics related injuries this year.
The workshop was organized
by the Philippine Pyrotechnics Manufacturers Dealers Association Inc., (PPMDAI)
which drew participants from northern, central and southern Luzon.
Chief Superintendent Raul
Petrasanta, head of the Firearms and Explosives Office (FEO) told the STAR that
they will confiscate illegal pyrotechnics products which include oversized
firecrackers and smuggled fireworks.
“We have the
responsibility to ensure safety of the people and we will do it by confiscating
illegal pyrotechnics products,” he said.
Daway (L), Petrasanta (R) |
Petrasanta explained that any
pyrotechnics products with over .2 grams of chemical content are illegal.
Some of the oversize
pyrotechnics that the PNP warned to confiscate include pla-pla, super lolo,
lolo thunder, bin-laden, goodbye Philippines, goodbye Gloria, kwiton bomb, and
giant whistle bomb.
Other smaller products
like piccolo and watusi are also banned due to danger it pose on children.
With regards to smuggled
products, he explained that it cannot be allowed, otherwise, the domestic
pyrotechnic industry will continue to suffer.
This was affirmed by
Senior Superintendent Ferdinand Daway, the chief of the PNP explosives
management division.
Daway said that law
governing pyrotechnics manufacture, sales and distribution in the country only
allowed totally knocked down materials.
“It is illegal to import
pyrotechnics unless it is totally knocked down,” he said.
Daway noted that smuggled fireworks are openly
sold in in the domestic market.
He said that some
businessmen are smuggling the said products and passing it to the market as
local manufactured by stripping its label and replacing it with local labels.
This scheme, the PPMDAI
said has been going on for about 10 years.
Participants to Fireworks Safety Training Workshop |
Vimie Erese, the president
of the PPMDAI admitted that said scheme has caused decline in the domestic
pyrotechnics industry.
She said that at present,
there are only 20 registered manufacturers in the country compared to 40 last
year.
“We are still struggling
not only because of high cost of raw materials imported from abroad but with
the presence of smuggled products that some businessmen are distributing
locally,” she said.
For his part, Engineer
Celso Cruz, the chairman emeritus of the PPMDA explained that for some
businessmen, it is more profitable to smuggle pyrotechnics than produce it locally.
“It is so easy, they will
not maintain workers, they will only need a warehouse. But the said practices is killing the
industry,” Cruz said.
The commercial
pyrotechnics industry was born in Bulacan in the late 1800s when a Spanish
friar taught a young man in Sta. Maria town to mix black powder to produce
skyrockets or kwitis which they used in waking up people for the annual misa de
gallo. (Dino Balabo)
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