Angel Sumagaysay, chief of the Public Safety and Security Command Center Office revealed that since the Christmas Eve and Christmas Day no firecracker injury had been reported from the city.
He claimed the City Government wants to maintain a zero-casualty relative to firecracker injury this coming New Year revelry and the security cluster intensifies the implementation of the firecracker ban.
“We want to maintain a zero-casualty related to the firecracker injury which has become a tradition throughout the years in Davao City,” Sumagaysay said.
He narrated that all the mobile patrols have been ordered to monitor the clinics and hospitals on firecracker injuries since the Christmas Eve and through the Yuletide season.
Sumagaysay in a press briefing by the AFP-PNP Press Corps at The Royal Mandaya Hotel on Wednesday (Dec. 28) said that the city’s security units have already been briefed as to the full implementation of the ban.
Under the ordinance, first-time violators will be fined P1,000 or 20 to 30 days imprisonment or both; second-time offenders will be fined P3,000 or one to three months imprisonment or both; and third-time violators will be fined P5,000 or three to six months imprisonment or both.
He said these penalties also apply to improvised pyrotechnic devices and will not be limited to firecrackers that use gunpowder.
Sumagaysay said improvised pyrotechnics that use lighter fluid or any materials that are combustible and can potentially start fire are also prohibited.
He expressed hope that firecracker-related injuries will be a thing of the past as the residents of the city dislike the use of firecrackers in meeting the New Year 2023. (PIA XI-Joey Sem G. Dalumpines)