Safer New Year’s Eve

At first, health authorities had been optimistic about the prospects of a safer, healthier New Year’s celebration this year. As reported by sentinel hospitals from the morning of Christmas Day to early Wednesday, only 15 incidents of fireworks injuries were recorded. This brought the total number of such incidents to 20, the “same number of cases recorded in 2021 and is 29 percent lower than the five-year average (28 cases) during the same time period,” said the Department of Health (DOH).

But the sighs of relief were swiftly squelched when the information was updated the next day. As of Dec. 29, firecracker-related injuries had gone up by 44 percent or a total of 36 cases from the same period last year. Four new cases were reported on Thursday, prompting DOH officer in charge Ma. Rosario Vergeire to issue a “code white,” which requires public hospitals to create a special team to deal solely with firecracker-related injuries.

“Boga,” homemade cannons using left-over gunpowder or rubbing alcohol, was the top culprit in the injuries, with 14 cases or 39 percent of total cases. Other pyrotechnics involved in accidents were whistle bombs, five-star, “kwitis,” and “camara.”

Despite the hard times, rising prices, and documented number of injuries, many of them resulting in burns, blindness, disability, and even death, Filipinos, it seems, insist on welcoming the New Year with noise, revelry, chaos, and derring-do (much of it fueled by alcohol).

Authorities have waxed and waned in their vigilance, monitoring, and regulating the sale of explosive devices, particularly of those deemed especially dangerous and therefore illegal. And yet, as the statistics show, far from waning, the popularity of firecrackers continues to increase. Besides, even the so-called “legal” devices can be just as lethal in the hands of the inexperienced (especially children) or the inebriated.

This may explain why, despite the annual crackdown on vendors of pyrotechnics, local governments and even Malacañang have sought ways to assuage common folks’ yearning for explosive celebrations without putting common households in danger.

No less than President Marcos Jr. has sought to address this threat to public health. He has urged local government units to designate a common area for fireworks displays so that households would no longer feel the need to set off their own devices. “I will enjoin the LGUs, instead of allowing our people to have their own firecrackers, gumawa na lang kayo ng magandang fireworks display para sa inyong mga constituents (make beautiful fireworks displays for your constituents),” he said.

For her part, Quezon City Mayor Joy Belmonte has issued an order prohibiting private households from mounting their own fireworks displays to minimize the chances of firecracker-related injuries. Under an executive order, fireworks displays are allowed “only in public places as approved by the city government.” “We also want to protect homes, commercial buildings, and other structures against incidental fires,” said the mayor, “and to lessen the harmful effects of hazardous chemicals and pollution.” Quezon City residents, as well as those from other areas, could watch the pyrotechnic displays in Eastwood and select malls like SM and Robinsons.

Quezon City’s move has been followed by other local governments, designating town plazas and even streets as common areas where fireworks displays are allowed.

Certainly, the need to welcome the new year, which comes a few hours from now, with revelry, spontaneous joy, and celebration is very human and understandable. But Filipinos, it seems, have taken the occasion to ridiculous, raucous heights, so much so that our yards, house fronts, alleys, and streets become virtual war zones enveloped in smoke and din. The tradition of setting off fireworks we have taken from the Chinese, who see the flashing lights and deafening noise as a way of driving away bad spirits, to clear the way for what we hope will be the prosperity of the coming days.

But what sort of prosperity are we celebrating when so many of our countryfolk suffer from burns, amputated limbs, blindness, and the trauma of injury? What prosperity awaits them in the face of medical bills and medications? Instead, let us celebrate with grateful hearts for the year just passed, and high hopes for even better days to come, in the warm and joyful presence of our loved ones. That should be enough to shine a light on the darkness within and without.