By Anthony Giron
IMUS CITY, Cavite---Officials have enforced early the ordinance against firecrackers in the province's eight districts for the New Year's celebration.
(Firecrackers / MANILA BULLETIN FILE PHOTO)
The officials started the anti-firecracker ordinance enforcement as the 31-day countdown to New Year's Day started on Sunday, December 1.
The ordinance implementation was one of the measures being undertaken by officials to prevent fatalities or injuries during the Yuletide and New Year celebration.
In this capital city, the mayor's office has posted t the entrance desk counter the provision pages of the ordinance that the administration approved several years ago.
The post reminds the citizens about the city's rules and regulations about the selling and use of "rebentador" or firecrackers that can injure or kill.
The ordinance provides that the sellers will be held and penalized and the firecrackers seized.
The administration tasked the police and other concerned city agencies to conduct the monitoring and actions as specified in the ordinance.
The stern anti-firecracker enforcement in Imus was made after a businessman died when the piles of firecrackers and pyrotechnics he stored at the garage of his house in Barangay Bucandala V exploded on December 23, 2013.
Fatal firecracker explosions were also reported in Trece Martires City and Maragondon municipality, also in Cavite in the past years.
Anti-firecracker measures were also enforced in the areas.
In Tagaytay City, the province's prime tourist destination, officials have banned firecrackers in the area in the last two decades.
The firecracker ban in the ridge city prohibits the sale and use of firecrackers and pyrotechnics year-round even for the New Year's Eve and New Year’s Day celebrations.
Tagaytay has maintained the 'zero-casualty or no blast injury and the no-fire incident every Christmas and New Year season with the strict enforcement of the ordinance in the city's 34 barangays (villages), including eco-friendly measures to keep the environment clean..
Other cities that have enforced a firecracker ban include Dasmarinas and General Trias and Rosario (Salinas) municipality.
Cavite, with seven cities and 16 municipalities, is the country's most populous province. Firecracker injuries, particularly involving children, as reported by the Provincial Epidemiology Surveillance Unit (PESU) are prevalent during the holiday season in some cities and municipalities.