Firecracker vendors face gloom in the Visayas

The New Year’s Eve revelry is expected to be quieter as the government, through an executive order signed by President Duterte, limits areas where firecrackers and pyrotechnic products can be lighted. INQUIRER PHOTO

TAGBILARAN CITY, Bohol — Many vendors of firecrackers and fireworks in Bohol are worried over loss of income this year due to dismal sales.

Casmerah Mamacol, 17, who has been selling fireworks and firecrackers for the past six years, admitted that the sale of firecrackers dropped compared to last year.

Mamacol said he expected the sales to perk up on Dec. 31 especially from last minute shoppers. It wasn’t going as well as he expected.

Consumers have apparently had a change of heart.

Mamacol was one of the vendors in at least 25 fireworks shops in makeshift tents found along the highway in Barangay Sta. Cruz in Baclayon town. Local authorities designated this area for selling and buying of pyrotechnic materials. Other approved firecracker zones in the province were in vacant lots in the towns of Calape, Tubigon and Panglao.

Firecracker vendors were not allowed to sell in the capital city of Tagbilaran.

Another vendor, Janessa Cabugatan, 19, said that they had been struggling to sell firecrackers days before New Year’s Eve.

She said some of them even opened their stores for 24 hours a day to offset the losses.

But there were still few buyers, she said.

Her father, Angkay, was selling fireworks and firecrackers in Panglao town.

The low sales didn’t also convince vendors to lower their prices.

Instead, the prices have slightly gone up which may have discouraged Boholanos from buying firecrackers.

Mamacol said they had no choice but to adjust their prices since their suppliers in nearby Cebu island also raised their prices.

These include the so-called “baby rocket,” which now cost P2 a piece instead of P1 while kwitis was now at P10 each instead of P7.

The Resplendent Fireworks 100 shot now cost P4,500 instead of P4,200 last year.

The dismal sales was also blamed on the Executive Order (EO) No. 28 signed by President Duterte in June 2017, regulating the use of firecrackers and other pyrotechnic devices.

“The order has a big impact on us. It affected our sales,” said Mamacol.

The EO 28 regulates the use of firecrackers within the community fireworks displays.

Under Republic Act (RA) 7183, local government units are directed to strictly monitor the sale and use of banned firecrackers, which include watusi, pla-pla, Super Lolo, Judas Belt, Goodbye Philippines, Bin Laden, Lolo Thunder, Kwiton and Giant Whistle.

Yearly, the Department of Health report hundreds of people, including children, get hurt by exploding firecrackers. Many of the victims lose fingers and even hands.

The Bureau of Fire Protection has also recorded numerous fires which razed communities and sent residents to a bad start to the new year. /cbb