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A 21-year-old man will have his leg amputated after accidentally stepping on a banned, powerful firecracker — called "Goodbye Philippines — while he was peeing against a wall in Bocaue, Bulacan.
Radio dzBB’s Carlo Mateo reported over GMA News TV’s “News To Go” that Danilo Mansueto will have his left foot amputated at the Jose Reyes Memorial Medical Center in Manila after the accident happened before dawn on Monday. “Goodbye Philippines,” a giant triangle-shaped firecracker which causes a loud and powerful explosion, is among the firecrackers that have been prohibited by the Department of Health (DOH) since last year. Bocaue town is known as the firecracker capital of the Philippines because it is the major supplier of firecrackers in the country. Another casualty, identified as Ronald San Pedro, also had injuries on his face, arms and feet in the accident, the report added.
Boy loses two fingers Meanwhile, Mateo also reported that a 10-year-old boy in Manila will start 2012 minus two fingers, which he lost to "piccolo." The boy was one of at least four children in Manila who were rushed to the Ospital ng Maynila (OSMA) for fireworks-related injuries, Mateo said. Citing information from OSMA, the report described the boy as a resident of the city's San Andres Bukid area. Last year, the DOH launched an "all-out war" against the sale of "piccolo" after finding that 48 percent of fireworks-related injuries as of late December 2010 were caused by it. “If we do not stop the sale of piccolo, we expect about a thousand casualties or more until January 1,” Health Secretary Enrique Ona had said last year. Banned firecrackers The Philippine National Police (PNP) earlier warned that errant firework vendors selling banned explosives will face imprisonment and cancellation of their of business license.
In a news release posted on the Philippine Information Agency (PIA) website on December 15, PNP-Region III enumerated the illegal explosives which should not be sold pursuant to Republic Act No. 7183 which regulates the sale, manufacture, distribution and use of firecrackers and other pyrotechnic devices.
PSupt. Rafmil Corpuz, chief of Fire and Explosives Division of PNP-Region III, said firecrackers with more than one-third teaspoon of gunpowder were outlawed for sale. The banned firecrackers include:
pla-pla,
tuna,
bin Laden,
big triangulo,
super lolo,
Goodbye Philippines,
Goodbye World, and
the piccolo (popular among children).
Under the law, firecrackers which are allowed for sale include baby rocket, bawang, small triangulo, pulling of strings, paper cups, El Diablo, Judas belt, and sky rocket.
Among pyrotechnics, those allowed to be sold are sparklers, luces, fountain, Mabuhay, Roman candle, trompillo, airwolf, whistle device, butterfly, and all lighting devices.
The republic act ,approved in January 1992, also allowed the use of watusi, a small reddish stick usually ignited by friction to produce a dancing movement and a crackling sound. Any person who is caught manufacturing and selling the said illegal explosives shall be punished by a fine not over P30,000, imprisonment up to a year, cancellation of license and business permit, and confiscation of stocks.
Child victims Citing Department of Health figures, an environment group, EcoWaste Coalition, said about one-third (or 34 percent) of all firecracker victims from December 21 to January 5, 2010 were children aged 1 to 10. The injuries involved:
blasting without amputation (79 percent),
eye injuries (15 percent), and
blast injuries with amputation (6 percent).
Majority of the 1,022 injuries during that period were firecracker-related (972). The rest were caused by stray bullets (39) and from ingestion of firecrackers (11).
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