DAVAO CITY (MindaNews – 11 January) – Davao City vice-mayor J Melchor Quitain Jr. said the City ordinance 060-02 also known as firecracker ban ordinance is “as good as it is now” but they would “revisit” it if necessary.
Quitain said this amid allegations that organizers of the recent “Paghinugyaw: Sugat sa Bag-ong Tuig,” Davao City’s countdown celebration for 2024 violated the ordinance when its performers prohibited pyrotechnic devices.
“If there’s a need to revisit the firecracker ordinance then we will wait for such a request from City Tourism and of course we have to deliberate on that and have committee hearings, whatever serves best interest of every Dabawenyo, that’s what we will do,” Quitain said.
“Personally, the firecracker ban is as good as it is now, for me. Total firecracker, at least akong mga bata nagdako wala nabuthan ang kamot o tudlo (my kids grew up without losing their hands or fingers due to firecrackers),” he added.
Former President Rodrigo Duterte, under whose term as mayor the ordinance was passed in 2002, said it is the current City Council’s call to amend the recent firecracker ban ordinance “when they deem it necessary”.
“[The firecracker ban ordinance in the city] is 21 years old, if the present council would deem it necessary for changes to take place, it’s not my call now, wala na ako sa control, I cannot stop it, I cannot delay it,” Duterte said, adding it is the present administration that should decide on that. “That should be a question for Baste (his mayor-son, Sebastian) not for me,” he told a press conference Saturday night.
Duterte explained that there are “no permanent laws or ordinances. There is no permanent law at all. National or local. No permanent ordinances, no permanent laws, no permanent constitutions. Otherwise, we cannot change it anymore, modify, or what not,” he said.
He noted that firecrackers have not done any good to society but “ilang generations na after generations may namatay” because of firecrackers and similar devices.
Meanwhile, City Tourism Operations Office (CTOO) head Jennifer Romero told MindaNews that they will have a coordination meeting together with “other city and security stakeholders” to come up with a statement on the firecracker ban ordinance.
Earlier, CTOO denied organizers’ alleged usage of banned devices, as they only used “sparklers that are being used in cakes.” (Ian Carl Espinosa / MindaNews)