A BIG store on Calderon St. in Barangay Ermita, Cebu City was raided by elements of the Regional Civil Security Unit of the Police Regional Office (PRO) 7, aided by the Carbon Police Station and the City Intelligence Branch (CIB) of the Cebu City Police Office for selling illegal firecrackers.
Police confiscated P323,120 worth of illegal firecrackers from Cebu Jcal Marketing, which is said to be owned by Jenny Gabiana Calipayan.
Police Captain Alvin Llamedo, Carbon Police Station chief, said Camp Crame had received a complaint on the store’s selling of illegal firecrackers and forwarded this to the PRO 7 and the Regional Civil Security Unit (RCSU), the office of the Philippine National Police tasked to regulate the selling of fireworks and firecrackers this Christmas and New Year.
At 5 p.m. Friday, Dec. 27, after buying firecrackers from the store, elements of the RCSU 7 and Carbon Police Station immediately identified themselves as policemen and informed the management that its sale of firecrackers was illegal.
Llamedo said there is a firecracker zone that is the only designated place where the selling of legal firecrackers is allowed. Their inspection revealed that the firecrackers the store sold were also illegal.
“This is a lesson learned for all firecracker sellers who do not sell in the firecracker zone that first of all, this is illegal. And second, the firecrackers they are selling are also illegal,” Llamedo said in Cebuano.
The firecracker zone in Cebu City is in an area located along F. Vestil St. in Barangay Mambaling near SM Seaside City Cebu.
The PRO 7, headed by Police Brigadier General Valeriano de Leon, will douse the seized firecrackers with water, as well as continue to monitor the illegal sale of firecrackers in Metro Cebu.
Meanwhile, the Mandaue City Police Office (MCPO) destroyed 2,000 pieces of firecrackers by soaking them in water on Friday, Dec. 27, 2019.
The firecrackers were confiscated on Christmas Day, Dec. 25, by MCPO Station 1 Chief PMaj Ramil Morpos at the Mandaue City Public Market.
Morpos said they were roving around the area when they spotted a sidewalk vendor selling Pop-pop, Binggala, and Piccolo.
The seized firecrackers were 2,000 pieces (10 packs) of piccolo, 920 pieces (10 packs) of binggala and 160 pieces (eight packs) of pop-pop with a total value of P1,230.
Making the rounds
“Mao nang nagrekurida ta starting atong before pa sa Pasko hangtod sa bag-ong tuig magsige ta og rekurida pahimangno sa mga tawo nga gidili ang pagpabuto labi na gyud kadtong mga pusil, malisensyado man o walay lisensya,” said Morpos.
(“That is why we have been going around from before Christmas up to the New Year to remind the public not to use firecrackers or to fire their guns, whether licensed or unlicensed.”)
In line with Executive Order 28 signed by President Rodrigo Duterte on the banning of firecrackers in the country, supported by the City Ordinance of Mandaue, Morpos said Mandaue City is a no firecracker zone, which means the City Government won’t allow the selling of firecrackers. But it will allow the display of pyrotechnics as long as there is a permit from the City.
Morpos said that on the first offense, vendors caught selling firecrackers will just be informed that Mandaue is a no firecracker zone and have their items confiscated. But on the second offense or more, the vendors will already be arrested.
“So far, we will just confiscate the firecrackers they were selling. We are giving them a chance to tell their fellow vendors that we will confiscate their products for now. If they will not heed our advice, that’s the time that we will arrest them,” he said in Cebuano.
The seized firecrackers will be turned over to the MCPO for disposal.
In a separate interview, PCol. Jonathan Abella, the MCPO director, said this season they will not only confiscate firecrackers but also admonish those individuals they see blasting firecrackers.
Prohibited
According to the Department of the Interior and Local Government, the prohibited fireworks are Piccolo, Watusi, Giant Whistle Bomb, Giant Bawang, Large Judas Belt, Super Lolo, Lolo Thunder, Atomic Bomb, Atomic Bomb Triangulo, Pillbox, Boga, Kwiton, Goodbye Earth, Goodbye Bading, Hello Columbia, and Goodbye Philippines. (AYB, KFD)