In Bulacan raid, execs come to their senses on wet gunpowder

BOCAUE, Bulacan—Interior Secretary Jesse Robredo had to be told not to dunk seized illegal firecrackers in water before these are destroyed when he visited the fireworks retail zone here on Thursday.

Senior Supt. Fernando Mendez Jr., Bulacan police director, presented Robredo with 10 gurney sacks loaded with “Goodbye Philippines,” “Bin Laden,” the “Coke-in-Can” bomb and other firecrackers prohibited by Republic Act No. 7183, which regulates the manufacture, sale and distribution of fireworks.

The items were intended for ceremonial destruction. But fireworks traders urged Robredo and Mendez to abort a plan to destroy the devices by soaking these in water, saying doing so would only make them deadlier.

The sacks did not carry the illegal phosphorus sticks called “Pacquiao,” a new product introduced in the market this month, because police were told that the inventory had been sold.

Mendez said the confiscated firecrackers belonged to a large cache of illegal fireworks that police were keeping as evidence against seven illegal manufacturers.

The firecracker factories visited by Robredo were found abandoned, after their operators were apparently tipped off about the police operations.

Sales have been brisk for 500 firecracker stalls here and in neighboring Sta. Maria town.

Buyers from as far as Pangasinan and the Ilocos region in the north and Quezon and Batangas in the south have driven to the stalls at dawn to avoid the holiday traffic rush.

Robredo directed Mendez and the Bulacan provincial fire office to continue monitoring the firecracker zones.

“A few days before the New Year’s Eve celebrations, we expect different types of firecrackers and pyrotechnics to flood the market. The authorities should ensure that no banned or extremely dangerous firecracker products will reach the market so as to reduce firecracker-related deaths or injuries,” Robredo said.

“I am directing the [police firearms and explosives division] to arrest and file charges against unscrupulous traders and individuals engaged in the manufacture, distribution and sale of the banned firecrackers,” he said. Carmela Reyes-Estrope, Inquirer Central Luzon