Tuesday, December 23, 2008 Vendors warned against selling firecrackers along sidewalks
CEBU City Councilor Augustus Pe Jr. warned traders that the sidewalk is no place to sell firecrackers, and that operations to seize their displays will continue.
This, as Market Administrator Raquel Arce said many have already signified interest in registering with the City to comply with the City Council resolution that Pe authored.
In a special session last Dec. 4, the City Council approved the resolution designating the South Road Properties (SRP) as the only place where traders could sell firecrackers and where revelers could explode them.
Pe, head of the committee on public order and safety, said he made the proposal to prevent or even eradicate injuries and fires during the Christmas season and the Sinulog.
Pe proposed that “display of firecrackers/pyrotechnic devices outside the designated area will be confiscated, redeemed, and destroyed outright.”
Resolution
He, however, admitted that running after those who explode firecrackers anywhere is difficult; but the task force created to implement the resolution will be there to monitor the city.
He also said that those who were already licensed to sell firecrackers before the resolution was approved are allowed to sell outside the SRP, though they are still covered by the prohibition on selling firecrackers in sidewalks.
Pe also said that what happened at the Toledo City terminal the other day could have been prevented had the government designated a firecracker zone separate from the area where they are sold.
Pe, who hails from Toledo, said that even before the incident, he already saw such a possibility, hence his resolution identifying the SRP, whose wide expanse is safe enough to have an area where firecrackers are sold and another area where they are exploded.
In Toledo City, Mayor Arlene Zambo yesterday signed an executive order permanently banning the selling of firecrackers in seven thickly populated barangays in the city.
She also suspended the issuance of business permits to firecracker traders to avoid similar pyro-related incident that wounded several bystanders over the weekend.
City Administrator Avelino Zambo Jr. said the mayor also identified a vacant space near the public cemetery in the city as permanent firecracker zone where residents can light firecrackers.
Commotion
An explosion reportedly caused by firecracker rocked the bus terminal in Toledo City and caused a slight commotion and injured several persons last Sunday.
Selling of firecrackers is also prohibited in Barangay Don Andres Soriano (Das) due to its huge population.
The seven neighboring villages include Barangays Poblacion, Sangi, Ilihan, Das, Dumlog, Ibo and Bato. (RHM/GMD)
