By Ellson Quismorio
If the huge drop in firework-caused injuries this year proved anything, it’s that Filipinos can still reform themselves by ditching bad habits.
This was AKO-Bicol Party-List Rep. Rodel Batocabe’s main takeaway from what the Department of Health (DOH) reported was a 68-percent decrease in the number of injuries during the recent New Year revelry.
“What is remarkable about this sudden plunge in injuries is the fact that we can still change bad habits or practices which we might even consider as part of our culture already if we all help to educate, inform and reform our countrymen,” said Batocabe, leader of the 46-member Party-List Coalition (PLC) in the House of Representatives.
Filipinos traditionally welcome the new year by lighting up firecrackers and pyrotechnics. But a new law restricting the use of firecrackers and fireworks seem to have successfully curbed that penchant.
Batocabe went on to say that this willingness to change for the better could also be applied to solving other longtime societal problems.
“If we can be successful in this campaign, why don’t we try this also with respect to drugs or even vote-buying just so we can reform our society,” he said.
Last Monday, DOH announced that firecracker-related injuries recorded between December 21, 2017 and January 1, 2018 only amounted to 191. There were 630 such injuries tallied from December 21, 2016 to January 5.
The Bicol lawmaker attributed this positive development to the “confluence of all stakeholders from the President, to the DOH, to the media, to the church down to the LGUs and barangays and NGOs working not only to minimize injuries caused by firecrackers but also the smog and pollution after every New Year’s revelry.”
Last June, the President signed Executive Order (EO) 28, regulating firecrackers and pyrotechnics. The directive confined their use to “community fireworks zones.
House Appropriations Committee Chairman Davao City 1st district Rep. Karlo Nograles agreed with Batocabe in that the fewer number of firecracker injuries showed a more disciplined Philippines.
“It shows that, more than ever, Filipinos are now willing to follow directives that are for the greater good. This gives me great expectations and hope for our country and our people,” Nograles said.
“As we all know, tradition based on superstition is always hard to break. But Filipinos have now opened their minds to President Duterte’s style of leadership, which is tough but well-meaning,” he said.
He said this was evident when, upon Duterte’s assumption of the presidency in 2016, hundreds of thousands of drug suspects surrendered to authorities.
“Our countrymen understood that fighting the drug menace required a collective effort, which was Duterte’s message all along,” Nograles said.
He said EO 28 is very similar to the strict regulation of fireworks in Davao City, which Duterte implemented during his days as city mayor.