THE Department of Health (DOH) on Monday, January 5, 2025, sounded the alarm over the spike in road crash injuries during the holiday season, saying these can now be considered a “public health problem.”
In a press conference, Health Secretary Teodoro Herbosa reported that a total of 1,384 road crash injuries were recorded from December 21, 2025, to January 5, 2026, in 10 sentinel hospitals.
“This is a 100 percent increase compared to 690 cases during the same surveillance period last year,” said Herbosa.
“This is a public health problem. From only 10 hospitals, we had over 1,300 road crash injuries. Imagine if there were more sentinel hospitals,” he added.
The health chief noted that the majority of road crash injuries involved motorcycles.
Of the total cases, 989 involved motorcycles, the DOH said.
“In separate incidents, seven out of the 10 fatalities were on motorcycles,” said Herbosa.
Firecracker-related injuries
The DOH said fewer firecracker-related injuries were recorded during the welcoming of 2026.
Herbosa said only 720 firecracker-related injuries were recorded from December 21, 2025, to January 5, 2026, in 62 sentinel hospitals.
“The numbers decreased by 14 percent compared to the same period last year, which had 834 cases,” said Herbosa.
This, however, failed to satisfy the health department, saying its annual Iwas Paputok campaign shall continue as long as necessary.
“We won’t stop until it’s zero (firecracker-related injuries),” said Herbosa.
Of the total injuries, 377 or 52 percent were aged 19 years old and below, while 343 or 48 percent were 20 years old and above.
The most common fireworks that caused injuries were kwitis, five-star, whistle bomb, boga, and piccolo. (Anton Banal/SunStar Philippines)