FILE / AFP
ILOILO CITY—The number of fireworks-related injuries (FWRIs) in the New Year’s celebration in Western Visayas has increased compared to the previous year.
As of January 1, the region has logged 132 FWRIs–an increase from the 80 cases they logged over the same period 2022, according to the latest data by the Department of Health-Western Visayas Center for Health Development (DOH-WV CHD).
Dr. May Ann Sta. Lucia, officer-in-charge of the DOH-WV CHD Local Health Support Division, said on Sunday that visible increases may be due to some factors, including the number of retailers and the size of the region itself.
She added that the long-standing tradition of believing that fireworks would “chase away bad spirits and bad luck in the coming year” was also a challenge in keeping FWRIs down.
“We have more than 700 retailers, which is higher than [National Capital Region] or Bulacan. We also have two large provinces, Iloilo and Negros Occidental, which have the most number of cases. Region 6 is classified as a big region compared to other regions in the Philippines,” Sta. Lucia said in an online presser on Sunday, January 1.
“Many believe that firecrackers drive evil spirits away, so people don’t think about how risky it may be. Firecrackers are fun, but they are very dangerous, especially when they incur eye injuries,” she added.
Negros Occidental logged the most number of FWRI cases with 48, followed closely by Iloilo province (45), Bacolod City (11), Aklan and Capiz (9 each), Antique (6), and Guimaras and Iloilo City (2 each).
The greatest number of injuries were reported on Jan. 1 (16), higher than the figure in the same time last year (9).
The most common injury in these sites was of blasts or burns with no amputation (16 cases), along with eye injuries (9), and blasts or burns either with amputations (4) or with no amputations but with eye injuries (1).
Types of firecrackers cited included “camara” (8), “boga” cannons (7), triangle (6), other types (5), and 5-star, “super lolo”, candle bomb, and “kwitis” (1 each).
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