Future dim for Bocaue fireworks makers

WAITING FOR BUYERS Store assistants at a fireworks and pyrotechnics stall in Bocaue town, Bulacan province, wait for customers on Thursday. Local fireworks makers have stopped operating two years ago, leaving hundreds of workers jobless. —GRIG C. MONTEGRANDE

BOCAUE, Bulacan, Philippines — Although sales of fireworks are starting to pick up again days before the New Year celebrations, some manufacturers have stopped operations, lea¬ving hundreds of workers without jobs.

People began flocking to a stretch of stores selling firecrackers and pyrotechnic devices at Barangay Turo here as early as last week.

Roy dela Fuente, who tra¬veled from Cavite province with his family, said they did not mind the long trip because they wanted to buy their favorite kwitis (skyrocket), some rounds of sawa and pyrotechnic (pailaw) shots.

“After spending Christmas Day with our relatives in Pampanga, we always come here before we head home to get ourselves some fireworks for the New Year celebration,” Dela Fuente told the Inquirer.

Before dawn Masses

A store owner said many of their customers began buying fireworks even before the start of Simbang Gabi (dawn Masses leading to Christmas) on Dec. 16, boosting their daily sales by as much as P200,000 compared to P35,000 during the same period last year.

Bigger stores are earning between P150,000 and P300,000, or even higher, a week before New Year’s Day.

But while some stores still enjoy brisk sales, at least 30 manufacturers of fireworks in the province are closing shop every year.

Lea Alapide, president of Philippine Pyrotechnics Manufacturers and Dealers Association Inc., said many producers in Bulacan expected to lose their customers due to the government’s regulation of firecrackers.

In 2017, President Duterte signed Executive Order No. 28 that limits the use of firecrackers to community fireworks display to minimize the risk of injuries and casualties.

Alapide said the EO had discouraged some people from buying fireworks, especially those who wanted to set up their own fireworks displays in front of their houses or at their backyards.

Dubbed “fireworks capital of the Philippines,” Bocaue alone is home to more than 70 stores and dealers licensed to distri¬bute or sell pyrotechnic products.

Mayor Joni Villanueva-Tugna

said at least 130 people lost their jobs when 20 licensed small and medium backyard makers stopped operating two years ago.

This prompted the local government and the Department of Labor and Employment to create livelihood programs and packages worth P1.9 million for the displaced workers.

Carolina Estrella, a deputy employment officer in this first-class municipality, said her office would be distributing sari-sari (variety) store packages, rice packages, sewing machines and other alternative sources of income for those who lost their jobs starting this January.

Local enforcement

Alapide said the dwindling number of fireworks manufacturers would eventually reduce the supply in the market and displace more workers.

Despite the EO’s initial impact on the fireworks industry, Alapide said they were pinning their hopes on Mr. Duterte’s recent announcement that he would leave it up to the local governments to enforce bans on fireworks.

“Our President said he didn’t want to criminalize the use of fireworks or firecrackers and that gave us a reason to be optimistic that our industry will get better,” Alapide said.