Boy lone fatality; revelry toll hits 739

Health authorities on Monday said a 9-year-old boy died in Cabanatuan City on New Year’s Day from massive injuries from a firecracker explosion in the first known death from violent New Year’s revelries. The tally of the injured has climbed to 739.

The child, John Joseph Gonzales, packed a small can with explosive powder, which exploded and injured him seriously when he threw it into flames. He died en route to a hospital.

Despite a government scare campaign, reckless revelries have apparently continued, and the Department of Health, which earlier announced a 13-percent reduction in injuries this year, on Monday said that reduction had been almost halved, with the latest figures indicating that injuries from the revelries in the run-up to New Year had climbed to 739.

Preliminary figures for the December 21 to January 1 period indicated the total number of injuries was, at 454, about 13 percent lower than the 546 cases reported last year, a number that made health officials hope that total reduction would reach at least 25 percent by the end of their count on Thursday.

But as of 6 a.m. Monday, there were 712 injuries caused by firecrackers; 22 by stray bullets and five by firecracker ingestion.

Dangerous streets

In Cabanatuan City, John Joseph’s mother Sheila Gonzales, 32, said her family was preparing to have lunch on Sunday when she heard an explosion. When they checked, they found her son and his two friends covered in blood.

She said her son died while being taken to Paulino J. Garcia Memorial Research and Medical Center. The boy’s playmates, Roel Pobre and Richard Rivas, were brought to the same hospital.

John Joseph was declared dead on arrival at the hospital. The boy sustained massive injuries and broken bones due to the impact of the explosion.

According to Dr. Eric Tayag, the assistant health secretary, the boy had collected firecracker deposits from the streets and threw them into a flaming drum.

Health Secretary Enrique Ona advised parents to keep an eye on their children and to stop them from playing in the streets until the remnants of the festivities have been removed.

“Our appeal to the parents is to make sure that their children don’t play around while the streets have yet to be cleaned up,” said Ona.

Victims mainly children

Most of the victims of firecracker-related injuries were children aged 1 to 10, accounting for 35 percent of the cases. At least 83, or 12 percent, were 15 years old and above and under the influence of alcohol.

Over 80 percent of the injured were male. At least 391, or 55 percent, of the victims directly handled firecrackers.

Of the total number of reported firecracker-related injuries, 544, or 76 percent, resulted in blasts or burns without amputation while 51, or 7 percent, resulted in blasts with amputation and 114, or 16 percent, resulted in eye injuries.

Indiscriminate firing

A police officer, an Army corporal and seven civilians have been arrested for indiscriminate firing during the holidays, the Philippine National Police said.

Another police officer is also being sought for allegedly having indiscriminately fired his gun.

PNP chief, Director General Nicanor Bartolome, said the 10 suspects were arrested between December 21 and January 1.

The suspects were not involved in the reported 18 incidents of injuries from stray bullets during the New Year’s Eve revelry, he said.

“As of now we have not made arrests in connection with the cases of stray bullets, but we have made arrests on indiscriminate firing. Cases of stray bullets will take some long investigation,” Bartolome said.

Police investigators will have to recover empty shells and determine from which firearm they were fired by comparing the shells with the ballistics records of all firearms licensed with the PNP Firearms and Explosives Division.

“Of course there will be a problem if it is a loose firearm. That will take added investigation because we cannot use the data base,” Bartolome said.

Bartolome identified six of the 10 suspects as Police Officers 2 Fulgencio Sideco and Efren Dimaiwat in Manila; Army Corporal Reynolds Reyes in Western Visayas; security guard Noel Briones in Central Visayas; and civilians Edgar Sedino in Northern Mindanao and Benedicto Salamatin in Mindoro, Marinduque, Romblon and Palawan (Mimaropa).

Bartolome said the suspect Benedicto Salamatin was arrested in Laguna province for firing his 9mm handgun at around 3:30 a.m. on January 1.

He was charged not only with illegal discharge of a firearm but also with illegal possession of a firearm since his handgun was found to be unlicensed. Dimaiwat, who is assigned with the PNP Training Service, is still at large.

Bartolome said police investigators were able to talk to witnesses and collect at least one empty shell suspected to have been fired from Dimaiwat’s 9mm firearm.

“Efren Dimaiwat is at large up to now. He will be included in the charge sheet once it is proven that the empty shell came from his issued firearm. Plus we have witnesses,” the PNP chief said. With a report from Armand Galang, Inquirer Central Luzon