[av_one_full first min_height=” vertical_alignment=” space=” custom_margin=” margin=’0px’ padding=’0px’ border=” border_color=” radius=’0px’ background_color=” src=” background_position=’top left’ background_repeat=’no-repeat’ animation=”]
[av_heading heading=’Firecrackers may be made beyond zones ‘ tag=’h3′ style=’blockquote modern-quote’ size=” subheading_active=’subheading_below’ subheading_size=’15’ padding=’10’ color=” custom_font=”]
BY GLENDA SOLOGASTOA
[/av_heading]
[av_textblock size=” font_color=” color=”]
ILOILO City – A regulation ordinance designated only two zones for firecracker manufacturing – Barangay Navais in Mandurriao district and Barangay So-oc in Arevalo. But the Bureau of Fire Protection (BFP) won’t be strictly enforcing it.
The manufacture of firecrackers will be allowed in other areas for as long as these are at least 300 meters away from residential areas, said City Fire Marshal Jerry Candido, citing Republic Act (RA) 7183.
RA 7183 regulates the sale, manufacture, distribution and use of firecrackers and other pyrotechnic devices.
According to Candido, BFP will be coordinating with the Iloilo City Police Office (ICPO) to make sure that manufacturers follow the 300-meter distance rule.
Section 7(a) of the law states: “A zone shall be designed by the local government unit where a manufacturing complex may be established. The outer perimeter of this zone shall be at least 300 meters away from the nearest residential units. Once a zone has been defined, no residential unit shall be permitted nearer than 300 meters from the perimeter of such zone.”
Candido confirmed there are firecrackers manufacturers in barangays Mohon and San Jose in Arevalo district but the working areas are mostly near fishponds far away from residential areas.
First-time violators will not be apprehended right away but will be given another chance to follow the 300-meter distance rule, said Candido.
“Kon indi pa gid sila magsaylo, amo na pagdakop sa ila,” he said.
There are no big-time firecracker manufacturers in the city despite the fact that Arevalo is being dubbed the “firecracker capital” of Iloilo, said Candido.
There are only around 10 small-time manufacturers and they banded to form a cooperative to secure a permit to operate, he revealed.
He described Iloilo City’s firecracker producers as “backyard manufacturers” so unlike the big-time producers in the province of Bulacan.
Here, most of the firecracker manufacturers produce only triangulo and pwitis, said Candido.
Triangulo is shaped like a triangle with powder content usually wrapped in brown paper measuring ¾ inch length in its longest side.
Pwitis is a firecracker with a stick so constructed that lighting of the wick will propel the whole thing to fly to a height of 40 to 50 feet before exploding.
“No fireworks and pyrotechnics. They do not have the financial capability and they do not have big financiers,” Candido explained.
If fact, he said, those manufactured here only comprise 30 percent of the firecrackers being sold; 70 percent are from Bulacan, Hinigaran (Negros Occidental) and China./PN
[/av_textblock]
[/av_one_full]
