Batangas lawyer calls for end to celebratory firing
LUCENA CITY—A lawyer from Batangas province has called on local officials and the general public to stop gun firing not only to welcome the New Year, but also during private celebrations.
Maria Luna, president of Tanggol Kalikasan (Defense of Nature), who resides in Lipa City, initiated an online petition on www.change.org, calling on Batangas Gov. Vilma Santos and Vice Gov. Mark Leviste to make an appeal for all Batangueños not to fire guns to welcome the New Year.
The www.change.org is a popular website that hosts public petitions. Maria’s petition has been signed by 16 co-petitioners as of Sunday afternoon.
“Please make this part of your legacy to the children of Batangas. Please go on radio to convince your constituents, mobilize women to tell their men to leave their guns at home and order the police to enforce the law,” Maria said in her petition that started on Sunday.
Maria also posted her appeal on her Facebook page.
On Monday, Maria posted an update to her petition and reported that Santos had made an appeal on television. “I suppose what is needed next is no longer an appeal but a stern warning for anyone caught firing a gun,” Maria said.
She added anyone reporting those who illegally discharge their firearms could be given an incentive or assured of “informant’s confidentiality.”
Last Thursday, pregnant Maricel Luna was hit by a stray bullet in her right thigh while chatting with a relative outside her home in San Jose, Batangas.
Luckily, the baby was left unharmed but the victim underwent an operation to remove the bullet from her body.
Maria observed that “celebratory firing” happens not only in Batangas but also in many other parts of the country during New Year revelries and other jovial occasions.
“It seems any celebration (like baptism, wedding or birthday) is enough reason for men to fire their guns in the air or into the ground (or if things get nasty, at each other), with bullets flying in a stupidly, deadly Russian roulette, and it often happens after drunken buddies challenge each other to show off their hardware,” Maria said in her petition.
She appealed to the public to have a happy New Year and avoid the repeat of a shooting incident last year that killed 7-year-old Stephanie Nicole Ella.
The girl was hit by stray bullet while watching New Year’s Eve celebrations outside their Caloocan City home.
The Philippine National Police has recorded six injuries related to stray bullets from Dec. 16 to 26, with two others caused by illegal discharge of firearms.
Early this week, policemen all over the country had their service firearms sealed with masking tape to make sure they do not use them to ring in the New Year.
Firecracker blast
In Iloilo City, the number of cases of firecracker blast injuries in Western Visayas has reached 12 cases, three days before the New Year.
A victim of a stray bullet in Lemery town in Iloilo, was treated for a hand injury on Dec. 27 at the Sara District Hospital in Iloilo.
A firecracker blast injury was reported each on Dec. 23 and on Dec. 24, three on Dec. 25, five on Dec. 26 and two on Dec. 27, according to the DOH Iwas Paputok Western Visayas database.
The DOH is monitoring cases of blast injuries from Dec. 21 to Jan. 5 reported at the Corazon Locsin Montelibano Memorial Regional Hospital in Bacolod City and Western Visayas Medical Center in Iloilo City.
In Bacolod City, a 12-year-old boy’s right hand was amputated on Christmas day due to blast and burn injuries from an unknown type of firecracker. The boy also suffered first degree burns on the face.
On the same day, a 13-year-old boy in Iloilo City was also treated for burn and blast injuries on his right hand.
In Batan town in Aklan, a 20-year-old man also suffered from blast and burn injuries on his right hand.
Five cases were reported on Dec. 26—two cases in Iloilo City and three cases in Negros Occidental. With report from Nestor P. Burgos Jr., Inquirer Visayas
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