DENR seeks ‘common fireworks areas’ in towns
LEGAZPI CITY, Philippines—Environment officials here urged local government units to immediately designate common firework areas in their communities as a safer and cleaner way of celebrating Christmas and New Year.
Joselin Marcus Fragada, environment regional executive director in Bicol, said common fireworks areas would not only save revelers from possible firecrackers and pyrotechnics injuries but, as Environment Secretary Ramon Paje had stressed, it would also keep air pollution at bay this holiday season.
“The amount of dust in the air expressed as total suspended particulates that is detrimental to health is expected to increase this month and early January due to widespread use of firecrackers,” Fragada said.
The appeal was made even if the Environmental Management Bureau’s regional report said the cities of Legazpi, Naga and Iriga were enjoying fair to good levels of air quality.
DENR data showed that the levels of air pollution in Legazpi, Naga and Iriga, as measured in 2010, were at an average of 102, 48 and 52 microgram per normal cubic meter (mg/ncm), respectively.
The levels were way below that of Metro Manila which is 166 mg/ncm.
The threshold level, considered “unhealthy for sensitive groups,” is at 230 mg/ncm, Fragada said.
However, firecrackers contain sulfur, charcoal and other materials that form greenhouse gases when these mix with oxidants in the air, he said.
Health authorities earlier warned that dusts from fireworks and firecrackers can affect the lungs and pose high health risks to people who suffer from respiratory illnesses such as asthma, bronchitis, laryngitis, pneumonia, rhinitis and sinusitis.
Fragada said that Paje also wrote the Department of the Interior and Local Government seeking assistance from Secretary Jesse Robredo for LGUs to designate common fireworks areas that would allow Filipinos to celebrate Christmas and New Year without the pollution that usually comes with it.
Paje said he believed that through common fireworks areas, the public could be made to cooperate in the government’s effort to minimize air pollution by minimizing, if not totally avoiding, the use of firecrackers this holiday season.
Fragada said that so far, a number of urban LGUs have supported the move, such as in Metro Manila where all of its 17 city and town mayors have signed on Oct. 18 a resolution of the Metropolitan Manila Development Authority which called for the setting up in each barangay of common fireworks areas.
The resolution is in line with the implementation of Republic Act No. 7183 (An Act Regulating the Sale, Manufacture, Distribution and Use of Firecrackers and other Pyrotechnic Devices) and providing a “safer environment” to celebrate the holidays.
“The advantages of having CFAs (common fireworks areas) far outweigh the potential risks to our people and clean air should never be compromised at all seasons and in all occasions,” Fragada added.
