CDN DIGITAL FILE PHOTO
OLANGO ISLAND, Philippines – The Mandaue City Police Office (MCPO) has confiscated firecrackers worth P13,400 during the New Year.
The confiscated items included a Judas Belt and 40 pieces of Goodbye Philippines.
Last year the MCPO also confiscated 2,000 pieces of piccolo, 922 pieces of binggala, and 160 pieces of Pop-out worth P1,230.
The selling of firecrackers has been prohibited in the city since December 2009, after an explosion at a designated “firecracker zone” in the Mandaue Reclamation Area killed three people and injured six others.
The MCPO also recorded two firecracker-related injuries on the first day of the year.
Among the firecracker victims was Danny Patalinghug Arranguez, 26, who sustained an injury on his left hand from a lighted fountain and was referred to the Vicente Sotto Memorial Medical Center (VSMMC).
Another victim, identified as Marriane Daraman Cayron, 30, sustained 2nd-degree burns from a firecracker (kwitis) on her right shoulder and was advised to go home after receiving treatment.
Police Colonel Jonathan Abella, MCPO Director, said that although there were firecracker-related injuries recorded, Mandaue City’s New Year celebration was generally peaceful. /rcg