I was one of those kids who were absolutely scared of loud noises and fire. Now in my mid-fifties, I am still not a fan. So you can imagine my relationship with firecrackers growing up and where I stand — banning them where I live is totally fine with me.
From time to time in the last 25 years — since Davao City banned the manufacture, sale, distribution, possession, and use of all firecrackers, pyrotechnic devices, including improvised items that have the same effect, within city limits — there have been proposals to amend it.
I remember one instance during Davao City’s hosting of the ASEAN Tourism Forum (ATF) in 2006 when no less than the Department of Tourism (DOT) requested then Mayor Rodrigo R. Duterte to make an exception for the next host country, Singapore. The Singapore government wanted to have a fireworks display during the closing ceremony when it would accept the hosting of the next ATF.
Without needing to pause to consider the significance of the request, Mayor Rody stood firm: “No, if I make an exception for the national government or a foreign government, then I have to grant the same to anyone who makes the same request. The ban remains, it will not be lifted just because we are hosting an international tourism event.”
As the city mayor’s chief-of-staff then, it fell upon me to communicate this, delicately and diplomatically, to the DOT and the government of Singapore. They outlined very persuasive arguments and did everything to beg the mayor to change his mind. But the mayor was not willing to ask the city council to amend an ordinance that he believed was good for the city to please and appease the Singaporean government.
Yes, that could have been Mayor Rody’s chance to restore good relations with Singapore after burning a Singaporean flag to protest the hanging of Flor Contemplacion in 1995. He was banned from entering Singapore because of that (I cannot confirm or deny that this may have been included in the negotiations to allow them fireworks in Davao City). The ban was lifted during his first state visit to Singapore as Philippine President in December 2016.
As Plan B, the ATF 2006 closing ceremony was held at Waterfront Insular Hotel so the fireworks that Singapore wanted can be viewed from the Island Garden City of Samal (just across the hotel), which is part of Davao del Norte province, outside the coverage of Davao City’s ordinance.
However, I had to remind DOT and the government of Singapore that the fireworks cannot be transported to and within Davao City because mere possession of any pyrotechnic devices is still a violation of the ordinance. So the fireworks were flown to Butuan and traveled by land to Panabo and then by boat to Samal to avoid Davao City.
That’s how serious the firecracker ban in Davao City is.
I still remember how this idea of banning firecrackers started. I served as Mayor Rody’s chief-of-staff first from 1997-1998 and from 2004-2010 for the second time. He served as Representative of the city’s first congressional district from 1998-2001 (I was supposed to join him in Congress but I ended up serving as chief-of-staff to Executive Secretary Ronaldo B. Zamora in Malacañang instead, which is a long and complicated story for another time). He made a comeback as city mayor in 2001, when he issued the executive order to ban firecrackers but this idea was already on his mind in late 1997.
He was in his office at city hall and many people were in line to see him for various concerns. Most of the people’s problems brought to him then were health-related. They could not afford to pay for medicines, hospitalization, cancer or dialysis treatments.
I vividly remember this one incident with an old lady who was recently widowed and was asking for help for her own cancer treatment. Mayor Rody asked her how her husband died and she said, “He died of cancer, mayor.” And the mayor replied, “No, your husband did not die because of cancer; he died because of poverty.” Or “kapobrehon” as the mayor would call it.
That stuck with me. Cause of death: cannot afford the treatment needed. Sadly, that is usually the case in the Philippines with our broken health care system. Many more people could have survived and healed from their illnesses if the system worked as it should.
So when the mayor’s budget officer said there was not enough money left to help subsidize the health care needs of his poor constituents, he demanded to see a hard copy of the budget.
I was by his side when he went through the budget line by line and saw a significant amount allocated at the end of the year. “What’s this for?” The budget officer replied, “Para sa mga nadisgrasya sa pabuto, mayor.” (That’s for the firecracker-related accidents, mayor.)
I will leave it to you to imagine the colorful cuss words that came out of the mayor’s mouth. And then he said: “Financial support should be given only to those who are really sick and in need of help, not to stupid people who hurt themselves because of firecrackers.”
He instructed the budget officer to use that budget to augment the “Lingap para sa Mahirap” (Care for the Poor) program and ordered the person in charge of public safety to find ways how to lessen firecracker-related accidents in the city.
By January of 1998, the mayor found out that firecracker-related accidents were getting worse. At first, he wanted to ban only the most dangerous ones but then a selective ban would be difficult to regulate and enforce. He was also advised that it would need an ordinance for proper implementation of a ban of that kind. But his term as mayor was about to end so an ordinance could not be passed at that time.
His economic advisers said it should be studied more to know the economic impact of the ban. But the mayor was resolute. “Clearly, the economic benefits of the business of firecrackers do not outweigh the public health and safety of our people,” he argued. Same argument for the smoking ban.
When he came back as city mayor in 2001, one of his priority executive orders was banning firecrackers. The city ordinance followed a year later on October 15, 2002. Since then, there was no need for another line item budget for firecracker-related accidents in the city.
So for those who want to amend the firecracker ban ordinance to have a controlled, community-based fireworks display, I suggest you do what the government of Singapore did in 2006. Go somewhere else where it is not banned. ###
