(FILE PHOTO) Filipinos stand beside fireworks as they celebrate the coming of the New Year early Wednesday, Jan. 1, 2020, in Manila, Philippines. Filipinos welcome the New Year with noise and firecrackers in the belief that this will drive away bad spirits and bring in good luck. (AP File Photo/Aaron Favila)
MANILA, Philippines — Firecracker manufacturers should start finding a new source of income now that President Rodrigo Duterte has pronounced a likely total ban on the sparkly pyrotechnics starting December next year, Malacañang said Tuesday.
“Kumbaga, binigyan na ng warning ng Presidente, humanap na kayo ng ibang hanapbuhay dahil sa susunod na taon magkakaroon na tayo ng absolute firecracker ban,” Presidential spokesman Harry Roque said in a press briefing.
(The President already gave them a warning that they should find other livelihoods because next year there will be an absolute firecracker ban.)
Duterte, in his weekly address on Monday night, said he is considering declaring a total ban on the use of fireworks – the same policy being implemented in Davao City, his hometown – beginning December 2021.
“I was toying with the idea of making it just like Davao. Let’s just do it this way: At least, you still have one year. Maybe next December, I will ban fireworks,” he said, speaking partly in Filipino.