TUGUEGARAO CITY, Philippines- President Rodrigo R. Duterte’s Executive Order No. 28 banning illegal firecrackers has proven effective in Region 2 as firecracker-related injuries during the celebrations of Christmas and New Year has decreased by 75 percent.
Based on the monitoring report of the Regional Epidemiology Surveillance Unit (RESU) of the Department of Health (DOH) here, there were only 20 cases reported injuries caused by firecrackers from 21 December 2017 to 01 January 2018 as compared to the 85 cases in the same period last year.
Carisa Pagulayan, DOH coordinator, said Cagayan province registered the highest number of cases with 8, followed by Isabela-6, Nueva Vizcaya-4 and Quirino-2.
The province of Batanes has sustained its record as firecracker free province as there was no reported firecracker incident from the said island province.
“The executive order of the President is very effective based on these data. We also commended the provincial government of Batanes for strictly imposing an ordinance prohibiting the sale of any firecracker in the whole province,” Pagulayan said.
She said most of the cases were caused by “Boga”, an improvised firecracker, followed by Picollo which are both prohibited.
Pagulayan added that the age bracket of those injured ranged from 4 to 58 year old.
She said as of this writing, no stray bullets were reported in the region.
She added that they continuously monitor cases of firecracker-related injuries regionwide and accept reports until 05 January 2018. Oliver Baccay/PIA/Northernforum.net
