MANILA, Philippines — Department of Health (DoH) officials declared on Monday an “incomplete victory” in its most extensive campaign to date against firecrackers as it reported the death of a 10-year-old boy in a firecracker explosion in Cabanatuan City.

“We can say we had an ‘incomplete victory’ over our campaign against fireworks because somebody died,” said Health Assistant Secretary Eric Tayag, also DoH spokesman.

Tayag did not name the victim but said the boy was declared dead on arrival at the Paulino Garcia Memorial Medical Center in Cabanatuan City on Dec. 31, 2011.

The boy succumbed to “massive injury” from the explosion, according to the DoH surveillance report updated on Monday.

It said the victim had collected gunpowder from fireworks residue in a can and then threw it in a fire, setting off a big explosion.

The report also summed up 739 injuries in the revelry to welcome the year 2012, a figure lower by 55 cases compared with the same period in the previous year.

Out of the total figure, 712 were fireworks-related injuries, 22 were stray bullet injuries, and five were cases of fireworks ingestion. A total of 440 cases were from the National Capital Region (NCR or Metro Manila).

A total of 185 cases were due to piccolo; 318 were caused by illegal fireworks; and 508 of these injuries occurred in the street.

The cumulative figure of injuries is only seven percent lower than last year’s figure and far off the mark aimed for by the DoH’s “Aksyon Paputok Injury Reduction (APIR)” campaign of a 30 percent overall reduction in injuries.

Even medical practitioners in Manila’s emergency rooms did not appear impressed by the statistics.

“In my experience, it was worse this year than last year,” said Dr. Janice Sahagun, a surgeon at the Chinese General Hospital and Medical Center.

Sahagun described the scene at the hospital as similar to the situation at a medical facility in a war zone, with all staff surgeons on duty, treating patients with severe burns and fingers damaged by fireworks.

Meanwhile, Tayag warned that wounds from firecracker explosions could lead to Tetanus.

“We are warning those who suffered small wounds due to fireworks to please seek medical consultation because in our experience, the external part of the skin may only have a small wound but underneath, the tissue may already be decaying. It may also lead to Tetanus,” he said.

The DoH official added: “Do not pick up fireworks that did not explode. Call the Bureau of Fire Protection for the proper disposal of fireworks. Different kinds of fireworks are disposed in different ways. Do not just pour water over it because if they are not disposed of properly, they can still catch fire and still explode.”

For its part, the Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG) tagged the nation’s greeting to 2012 “peaceful” and “safer” than in previous years’ celebrations.

DILG Secretary Jesse M. Robredo noted a drop in reports of fires, firecracker-related injuries, and victims of stray bullets and attributed it to the government’s “Iwas-Paputok” campaign and the drive against illegal firecrackers.

Since there were 18 individuals injured because of stray bullets, Robredo directed the Philippine National Police (PNP) Chief Nicanor Bartolome to order his field investigators to gather the slugs recovered from victims and subject them to a ballistics test.

“The PNP Crime Lab has the Integrated Ballistics Identification System equipment which can compare the slugs to the ballistics records of licensed firearms the PNP Firearms and Explosives Division has on file,” said Robredo, adding that he hopes the effort would lead to the identification and arrest of reckless gun owners.

“Also, we will subject to paraffin test some police officers who reportedly fired their guns during the New Year revelry. We will reveal their names once we have determined they have violated the ban against indiscriminate firing,” he added.

In Valenzuela City, Senior Superintendent Wilben Mayor, city police chief, ordered that one of his senior officers undergo a paraffin test after receiving a report that the latter had supposedly fired his gun during the revelry.

“We want to clean the names of our personnel from suspicion and whatever allegations so we subjected them to undergo random test,” said Mayor, who ordered that Senior Inspector Arsenio Francisco be the first to be subjected to the test along with several other police personnel.

Some 35 police personnel of the Northern Police District (NPD) were about to undergo the same test, but the NPD cancelled it in the absence of a formal complaint against any of them.

In Pasig City, Senior Supt. Jessie Cardona, chief of police, said the PNP campaign prohibiting cops from using their firearms to welcome the New Year has proven to be effective.

Cardona led the unsealing of police service pistols under his command.

Earlier, Bartolome warned that any policeman caught or found to have fired his or her service pistols to celebrate the New Year will be dismissed from the police service. (With reports from Ed Mahilum, Czarina Nicole O. Ong, Francis T. Wakefield and NYT)