Eco group prods Rody on firecracker ban

A pro-environment watchdog is pushing for a total firecracker and fireworks ban nationwide while urging incoming President Rodrigo R. Duterte to fulfill his earlier promise to support the move.

EcoWaste Coalition, a civil society partner of the Department of Health in the yearly “Iwas Paputok” campaign, expressed optimism that the Davao City’s ban on firecrackers and fireworks would finally get replicated this year in towns and cities across the country with Duterte at the country’s helm.

“We want a comprehensive ban on firecrackers and fireworks to save lives and to protect the climate, the environment and the public health from hazardous emissions and wastes,” said Aileen Lucero, Coordinator, EcoWaste Coalition.

“It’s high time that the Philippines, a climate hotspot, bid goodbye to New Year pollution and mayhem,” she added.

Several other groups have joined the EcoWaste Coalition in manifesting support for a national ban on firecrackers and fireworks under the Duterte presidency, including the Bangon Kalikasan Movement, Concerned Citizens Advocating Philippine Environmental Sustainability, Health Futures Foundation, Health Justice, Interface Development Interventions, Kinaiyahan Foundation, Mother Earth Foundation, Philippine Animal Welfare Society and the Philippine Medical Association – Committee on Environmental Health and Ecology.

“Like the Davaoeños, we can usher in the New Year in a non-wasteful fashion through non-deafening, noninjurious and non-toxic noisemakers and through the conduct of fun-filled ‘kantahan,’ ‘salu-salo’ and more in our homes and neighborhoods,” Lucero said.

The massive detonation of both legal and illegal pyrotechnics to herald the New Year goes against the basic state policies of protecting human health and the ecosystems as enshrined in the Constitution, EcoWaste Coalition pointed out.

On the other hand, banning firecrackers and fireworks will help in meeting the objectives of the Clean Air Act, Ecological Solid Waste Management Act, Clean Water Act, Climate Change Act, Animal Welfare Act and other environmental and health laws.