Piccolo’s staying power puzzles DOH

AN official of the Department of Health (DOH) said they are puzzled as to why piccolo still appears to be very accessible to the public despite being declared as an illegal firecracker since 2007.

A total of 862 firework-related injuries were reported to the DOH from December 21 to 6 a.m. of January 5, which is lower by 16 percent from last year’s 1,021 cases.

Based on the final tally, piccolo caused injury to 226 individuals, followed by 151 from unknown firecrackers, and 115 from kwitis. Bulk of the injuries came from the National Capital Region with 479, followed by Ilocos Region with 68 and Western Visayas with 63.

“Ano bang meron sa piccolo na iyan? Kasi bakit hanggang ngayon meron pa din niyan?” asked DOH spokesperson Eric Tayag.

The DOH believed that piccolo is simply not just smuggled into the country since the Bureau of Customs has long been on high alert against its entry from China.

“Totoo ba na iyan ay smuggled o talagang ginagawa na dito. Duda na ang DOH, baka yang piccolo ay sariling atin na at hindi na smuggled,” said Tayag.

He said the piccolo problem as well as other firecracker-related issues will be among the topics they will discuss in the stakeholders’ summit set in February.

The meeting, dubbed as APIR IWAS PAPUTOK 2013 Summit, is set to invite other government agencies as well as the fireworks industry.

Among those to be invited in the summit are the Department of Interior and Local Government, Philippine National Police, Bureau of Fire Protection, Department of Trade and Industry, Department of Education, Department of Social Welfare and Development, Metro Manila Development Authority, League of Cities of the Philippines, and the Philippine Information Agency. (HDT/Sunnex)