Filipinos celebrate a bloody New Year

by Vic Ferrer

At least 35 people died and 590 others suffered injuries as Filipinos went into a frenzy of celebration in observance of the New Year. The deaths and injuries were caused mostly by firecracker blasts, stray bullets, drunken brawls, and fires.

The total number of injuries, according to the Philippine National Police (PNP) and the Department of Health (DOH), represents an 11 percent increase from that of last year. There were 531 injuries the previous year. DOH Secretary Manuel Dayrit attributes the rise to the delayed airing of his department’s Iwas Paputok campaign on television owing to the difficulty in raising the money to pay for it.

As usual, Metro Manila suffered the highest number of firecracker-related injuries, with 352 cases. Practically all hospitals in the metropolis, government and private, had their share of patients, with Jose Reyes Memorial Medical Center in Sta. Cruz and Ospital ng Tondo reporting the most number, at 93 and 27 cases, respectively.

Overall, however, the number of injuries from firecracker blasts has been steadily declining. In 1999, some 1,631 people sought treatment for injuries. The figure went down the following year to 1,369 due mainly to the government’s campaign against powerful firecrackers.

The night sky lights up in Novaliches, Quezon City. Fireworks injure hundreds of people during the New Year.

Firecracker Injuries

The DOH attributes the increase in firecracker-related injuries in the year just past to the marketing strategy used by firecracker and fireworks manufacturers.

Aware of the economic difficulties the country was undergoing, the manufacturers came up with cheap but poor-quality pyrotechnics. Sold on retail, even children could afford them.

Most victims suffered laceration in the hands, the worst cases requiring amputation of one or two fingers.

Usually, injuries occur when a reveler fails to throw a lighted firecracker on time. In some cases, somebody picks up one believing the light in it has been extinguished. Other pyrotechnics such as fire fountains sometimes explode, although they are not supposed to, thus contributing to the overall number of injuries.

A pyrotechnics item called the watusi is equally dangerous. Called dancing firecracker, it looks very much like a detached matchstick head. It is set off by rubbing it against a hard surface. Although the resulting series of explosions is not dangerous by itself, the material causes poisoning when ingested.

Nine children were poisoned this way. Fortunately, no death was reported.

Worst Incident

The worst incident in terms of lives lost due to pyrotechnics occurred in Lucena City when a Muslim-owned firecracker storeexploded the day before the celebration.

On Wednesday at 1 p.m., police investigators say, the owner of the store himself lit a so-called baby rocket, reportedly to test his merchandise. The firecracker, instead of shooting up, made a horizontal turn and headed into the store, where it landed on a pile of pyrotechnics. It then set off a massive explosion and caused a conflagration that gutted nine other establishments.

Six family members of the trader perished as did 13 others in the fire that blazed away for hours. Two others were reported missing and an undetermined number were rushed to the hospital for treatment.

Apart from the death and injuries, P140 million worth of property went up in smoke.

In Pasay City, the MBCN Repackaging office and warehouse caught fire amidst the revelry. It was the longest-running fire of the year, taking all of 16 hours to control. Investigators, noting that the same place burned down at exactly the same time last year, were looking into the possibility that it had been deliberately set.

Six other fires hit Manila and Quezon City, mostly suspected to have been caused by wayward firecrackers.

No deaths were reported in the Pasay, Manila, and Quezon City fires, although scores were hurt and scores of families lost their homes and belongings.

Illegal Firearms Discharges

The number of injuries from stray bullets also decreased. A total of 11 people, including a 13-year-old girl, suffered gunshot wounds this year. There were 17 injuries of the same nature last year.

Most of those who were prosecuted for illegal firearms discharge were policemen and security guards, although there were private gun-owners, licensed or unlicensed, who were equally charged.

In Marikina City, PO3 Gary Lee, earlier listed absent without leave (AWOL), and security guards Gener Gabatao and Noli Takmo, were arrested by responding policemen for firing their guns in the air. Likewise, SPO2 Nicanor Pagado of San Marcelino, Zambales, was put behind bars by his superiors for the same offense. Whether the three caused any of the reported deaths or injuries in the celebration was not immediately known.

At any rate, stray bullets hit 48-year-old man in Paranaque; a 16-year-old girl in Quezon City; and four others in Manila. Similar other cases were reported all over the country.

Drunken Brawls

Other injuries and most deaths were the result of drunken brawls and passion killings, and outright murders.

In Caloocan City, two men on a motorcycle gunned down and killed a barangay captain, timing the assassination to coincide with the intensifying noise-making as midnight approached. Four men were shot dead using improvised guns, three in Malabon and one each in Novaliches and Manila, mostly by their drinking buddies.

In Manila, PO2 Nelson Gonzales of the Western Police District died after three men with knives and ice picks ganged up on him.

At UP Diliman, Crisanto Lucban, a student, succumbed to gunshot wounds, allegedly inflicted by a member of the UP Campus Police.

In Barangay Pag-Asa, Quezon City, two men were killed and another was seriously injured when unidentified gunmen shot them as they were drinking in front of their house. An unidentified gunman also killed a man in Barangay Commonwealth in Fairview.

Also in Quezon City, this time in Barangay Tatalon, a man and a woman died of stab wounds in two separate incidents. The first was killed by two unidentified men, while the second was slain by her live-in partner.

In Tondo, Manila, a 16-year old boy was hacked to death by three other youths, while an old man died of stab wounds inflicted by a neighbor.

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