Confiscated firecrackers destroyed

ABOUT P40,000 worth of firecrackers seized from sidewalk vendors at Carbon Market and downtown were destroyed yesterday.

Cebu City Mayor Michael Rama led the disposal by soaking the fireworks in a drum of water outside City Hall.

Raquel Arce, head of the Task Force Pabuto, said the re were fewer illegal firecrackers confiscated this year than in 2012, which was valued at P100,000.

Task Force Pabuto whose members are law enforcers and City Hall personnel, had difficulty confiscating firecrackers last month because vendors wuld “hide” the items, said Arce.

A seaside portion of the South Road Properties (SRP) was designated as the sole vending site for firecrackers and pyrotechnics.

All other products sold on city streets were considered illegal.

Task force members cracked down on illegal vending in Carbon Market and Manalili and Colon Streets.

Mayor Rama directed Arce to intensify the campaign and said Task Force Pabuto should start surveillance and confiscating even before the month of December.

Arce said that next time, the task force would endorse offenders to the city legal office to file crminal charges against unauthorized firecracker vendors./CHIEF OF REPORTERS DORIS C. BONGCAC