Babag honors products that have supported it

Babag honors products that have supported it

ALMOST 40 percent of the population of Barangay Babag in Lapu-Lapu City rely on selling and manufacturing firecracker and pyrotechnic products for their livelihood.

In 2003, the barangay officials named the 10 puroks in Babag after the products that they had been producing over the past years.

These are Puroks Super Sunlight, Five Star, Rambo, Judas Belt, Shoot- ing Star, Beauty in the Sky, Thunder, Butterfly 1, Butterfly 2 and Bombshell.

Barangay officials passed an ordinance to divide the five sitios to 10 puroks and rename these after the firecrackers.

The five sitios before were Babag 1, Babag 2, Naga, Radar and Tipolo.

Community livelihood

“At least this would signify the dominant livelihood of the residents in the barangay,” said Babag Barangay Captain Epifania Augusto.

Augusto said they forwarded the ordinance to the City Council and the latter recognized this.

Babag had a population of 24,000, based on the data recorded in 2014.

Bernardina Plasquita, 44, a resident in Purok Shooting Star, relies on firecrackers and pyrotechnics for her income.

“It was okay to name the

puroks after the firecrackers since it has been their main source of livelihood since I can remember,” Plasquita said in Cebuano.

Plasquita provides raw materials that are used in the manufacture of firecrackers. She has been gathering chipboard, newspapers and sacks of cement and has been selling these for 18 years.

With the renaming of the puroks, she said Babag became more known for manufacturing firecrackers and pyrotechnics.

The raw materials are formed into the shape of a specific firecracker.

Carmela Benzi, 45, also a resident of Purok Shooting Star, does this for a living to raise her two children.

Stoppage order

She then sells the “formed firecracker” to manufacturers, who pour the contents that ignites the finished product.

Conrado Cases, 71, who lives in Purok Rambo, said he had been making firecrackers for more than 30 years.

Recently, the Department of Labor and Employment issued a stoppage order shutting down all the firecrackers and pyrotechnics companies in the country, following the accidents in Bulacan.

Plasquita, Cases and Benzi were among the many individuals, who were affected.

Plasquita said she hopes the stoppage order will be lifted so they can continue to support their family.