A man so intoxicated he embraced a very powerful firecracker called “Goodbye Philippines” as it was about to explode was the lone fatality in the often riotous pyrotechnics-powered New Year’s Eve celebrations in the country.
“He sustained a very fatal injury. His jaw was mangled,” Health Secretary Janette Garin said of the victim, tricycle driver Ronald “Aga” Vericio, 45, of Sampaloc, Manila, even as she noted that the overall figures in last Thursday’s merrymaking were something to be happy about.
For the first time in a decade, the number of firecracker-related mishaps during the New Year’s Eve festivities plunged to an all-time low, an indication that the government and the police have done something right, according to health officials.
Still and all, when the smoke from the raucous New Year merrymaking had cleared on Friday, nine people had lost a hand while 329 sustained injuries that did not need amputation. At least 50 people endured eye trauma from the indiscriminate use of firecrackers.
In hospitals across the country, firecracker victims rushed into emergency rooms grimacing in pain as they held their bloodied limbs.
‘Lit and hugged’
Vericio died of a heart attack at 1 a.m. on Friday while being transported by ambulance to the Ospital ng Maynila (OsMa) from the Ospital ng Sampaloc.
EENT specialist Dr. Dan Daffon of the OsMa, who was one of the doctors who attended to the victim, said no one could really say how Vericio had “hugged” the firecracker that he had lit. But friends who rushed him to the hospital said he was drunk when he did it.
Vericio was one of 34 victims of firecracker-related injuries who were treated at the OsMa, according to senior house officer Hanna Sumabong. The figure is higher by nine cases this year, compared to the 24 reported last year.
There was one other death on New Year’s Eve, a 65-year-old woman who died of a heart attack as she watched her house burn in an inferno lit by a firecracker in Tondo.
Confluence of factors
In a press briefing, Garin reported that as of 6 a.m. yesterday, the Department of Health (DOH) had recorded a total of 384 New Year’s Eve revelry-related accidents since Dec. 21, of which four cases were caused by stray bullets.
The figures were 57 percent lower than the five-year average and 53 percent smaller when compared with those of the same period last year.
The DOH also recorded zero case of firecracker ingestion, another first in the last 10 years, Garin noted.
“This is one of the best news we heard so far. But our target really is zero casualty so we will step up our campaign toward a total firecracker ban this year but we are still willing to support public fireworks display,” said Health Undersecretary Vicente Belizario.
Garin said the DOH’s “Iwas Paputok” campaign, with the help of other stakeholders, and the strict enforcement of the law by the Philippine National Police were what significantly pulled down the number of injuries, which had been teetering between 860 and 1,300 since 2005.
The drizzle on Thursday night also partly contributed to the sudden drop in firecracker-related injuries during this year’s revelries, she noted.
“It’s a confluence of these factors. But the strictness of the PNP, not allowing street vendors to sell firecrackers and arresting those who peddle prohibited firecrackers, was one of the biggest contributing factors,” she said.
Out of the 384 cases, 380 were injured by firecrackers; 82 percent involved males and 64 percent children less than 14 years old.
“While we continue to receive reports from various hospitals, we are happy that at least it is 53 percent lower than the previous year and if you will compare in the past five years, the present figure is 57 percent lower,” said Garin.
“But in the coming year, what we really would need to do is to deter the illegal entry of the “piccolo” so that we can bring down further the number of casualties during the New Year festivities,” said Garin.
Deadly piccolo
Records show that the piccolo, a small and cheap firecracker that has long been prohibited by authorities, accounted for 58 percent of the New Year merrymaking-related injuries, followed by “kwitis,” “luces” and “five star,” another banned pyrotechnic.
When asked what concrete actions the DOH would want to see from the Bureau of Customs, Garin said the agency must first and foremost find out in what form does the piccolo enter the country.
She also proposed that the bureau begin stringent scrutiny of shipments earlier in the year to thwart attempts to smuggle illegal firecrackers, particularly the piccolo.
“We really need to know in what form does it come to the Philippines. It is being smuggled and it is impossible that it enters the country without the help of some people,” she added.
Health authorities also clarified yesterday that the case of the 9-year-old girl in Bulacan province who was fatally shot shortly before the New Year’s Eve celebrations started was not caused by a stray bullet.
“[The case] has been categorized as accidental gunshot wound upon investigation and verification by the PNP,” they said.
The DOH also monitored 83 cases of respiratory illnesses, mostly asthma and difficulty breathing, following the New Year’s Eve celebrations.
These cases were reported from three hospitals in Metro Manila—the Lung Center of the Philippines, East Avenue Medical Center and Jose Reyes Memorial Medical Center, said Garin.
To ensure that the number of casualties from firecracker use would not rise in the coming days, Garin advised parents and guardians to prevent their children from picking up or playing with leftover firecrackers found on the streets.
“Because it rained on New Year’s Eve, there is a possibility that some of these leftover firecrackers did not blow up, posing a risk to anyone who might pick them up later,” she said.
Adults should gather leftover firecrackers in a drum filled with water and turn them over to the PNP for proper disposal, she said.
Dramatic drop
The PNP in Quezon province also reported a dramatic drop in the number of individuals injured by firecrackers during the New Year’s Eve revelries.
As of noon on Friday, 15 people, the youngest being a 3-year-old boy, were recorded to have sustained injuries from firecracker blasts in Quezon , mostly from the piccolo, the PNP-Quezon report said.
The number was way below the 53 victims of firecracker-related injuries during the New Year celebrations last year, said Senior Supt. Ronaldo Genaro Ylagan, Quezon PNP chief.
Ylagan attributed the drop in the number of firecracker-related injuries to the police public safety campaign that the authorities conducted on mainstream and social media platforms like Facebook.
In Mimaropa (Mindoro, Marinduque, Romblon, Palawan), the PNP said it recorded only four firecracker injuries—three in the Mindoro provinces and one in Romblon.
In Bicol, however, the DOH regional office recorded 79 firecracker injuries during the period from Dec. 21 last year to Jan. 1 this year, a 13-percent increase from the 69 cases reported last year.
Failure in Bicol
Meanwhile, firecracker injuries in Bicol surged 46 percent, or from 13 cases last year to 28 this year, said Dr. Evi Sarmiento, DOH Bicol Action Paputok Injury Reduction program coordinator.
Sarmiento said 62 percent of the victims were minors, again with the outlawed piccolo as the leading cause of injury.
She said the DOH’s campaign for a zero casualty apparently failed in Bicol because law enforcement agencies did not strictly enforce the ban on firecrackers specially the sale of the product to minors.
One of the victims, a 36-year-old man from Camarines Norte province, seriously injured one of his hands that it had to be amputated, Sarmiento said.
In Cebu City, Joname Diaz, 23, was standing outside a store on C. Padilla Street at 11 p.m. on New Year’s Eve buying load for her cell phone when she suddenly fell to the ground.
Diaz was hit by a stray bullet in her buttocks. Her relatives have no idea who fired the shot.
Diaz was one of four victims of stray bullets in Central Visayas recorded by the DOH regional office from Dec. 21, 2015, to Jan. 1. The two other victims were from a different barangay in Cebu City and the third was in Baclayon in Bohol province.
At least 99 firecracker-related injuries were reported in Western and Central Visayas.
In Western Visayas, 41 cases of injuries from firecrackers were reported in the provinces of Iloilo, Aklan, Antique, Guimaras and Capiz. The number was less than the 57 reported in 2014.
Central Visayas reported 58 firecracker-related injuries, against the 54 reported last year, said the DOH-7’s Renan Cimafranca.
The youngest victim was a
1-month-old baby and the oldest was 76 years old.
There were no reported fatalities from firecracker use this year, he added.
In Cotabato City, a 50-year-old man from Barangay Marquez was injured in the leg after being hit by a stray bullet at the height of the New Year’s Eve revelry. It was the first case of stray bullet injury in Central Mindanao.
Jenny Ventura, of the DOH in Central Mindanao, reported that a total of 63 persons were injured by firecrackers in the provinces of North and South Cotabato, Sarangani and Sultan Kudarat from Dec. 21 to 6 a.m. of Jan. 1, 2016.
South Cotabato had the highest number of injuries so far, with 23 cases reported.
Zero injuries
No firecracker-related injuries was reported in Davao City and two provinces in Southern Mindanao.
But police in Davao City arrested three persons, including a teenage girl, for violating the firecracker ban after being found with several packs of prohibited firecrackers.
Police in Compostela Valley said that as of 9 a.m. on Friday, they had yet to receive any report of injuries related to New Year’s Eve celebrations.
There was also zero firecracker-related incidents and injuries in Davao Oriental province, said Senior Supt. Joseph Sepulcre, Davao Oriental police chief.
In Davao del Norte province, Senior Supt. Samuel Gadingan, the provincial police chief, confirmed there were cases of firecracker-related injuries in the province, but could not immediately provide details. With reports from Delfin T. Mallari Jr., Mar Arguelles and Madonna Virola, Inquirer Southern Luzon; Jhunnex Napallacan, Inquirer Visayas; Julie Alipala, Edwin Fernandez and Frinston Lim, Inquirer Mindanao
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