A total ban on firecrackers in Cebu?

[sharkey360]

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Should firecrackers be totally banned all over Cebu?

Yes: 29
No: 36
No comment: 3

As the current poll suggests, people are addicted to firecrackers.

[BIGDANE]

sorry pero di gyud ko uyon iban ang pabuto...just be responsible enough and buy the right or safer ones..

[peewee_toot]

definitely! kay mga tawo kiat lang nawong bisan asa ipang itsa, maka disgrasya ug laing tawo, maka cause sad ug sunog, makatabang sad sa kinaiyahan...nice pud kay maka save ka

dili dapat firecrackers ang pasangilnan ani. tan-awa sa imong statement, diba ang tao nga ing ana og utok ang dapat i-ban! agree?

[peewee_toot]

Should firecrackers be totally banned all over Cebu?

Yes: 29
No: 36
No comment: 3

As the current poll suggests, people are addicted to firecrackers.

i dont think it's an addiction. december ra mn sd ang early january ra ang pabuto. diba?

[sharkey360]

Do you have friends or relatives who enjoy using firecrackers on other events like birthday celebrations, wedding anniversaries, etc? I know some friends who do.

[peewee_toot]

well, have you seen stalls of firecrackers during feb-nov?

[sharkey360]

Firecracker makers are desperate.

*** bombs boost sale of Bocaue firecrackers

If you see young, beautiful women swinging with young, handsome men to the beat of Lady Gaga’s chart busters at some stores here, don’t think they are doing it just for fun. Chances are they’re also selling firecrackers.

Sales of firecrackers and other pyrotechnic products have been slower than expected and so traders have—again—started hiring attractive store clerks or dancers to help drum up business with the approach of the Christmas and New Year holidays.

Shop owners blamed the relatively slow trade so far on several factors, including the decision by some cities in Metro Manila to ban their residents from using firecrackers—which means fewer Metro residents would now go to Bocaue to buy them.

Buyers from Metro Manila make up the bulk of clients of stalls selling firecrackers and pyrotechnic products in this town dubbed the country’s “fireworks capital.”

Winning customers
Rosita Reyes, a manager at one of the firecracker stalls, said some stall owners were making sure their store clerks were beautiful and handsome to attract buyers.

Reyes said that last year, when sales fell after floods hit firecracker factories, some owners hired groups of three to four women each, to dance in front of their stalls, competing for customers.

The dancers wore shorts and danced to smash hits like Lady Gaga’s “Poker Face” and Flo Rida’s “Low.”

The gimmicks started on Dec. 26 last year as people came rushing to buy firecrackers for the New Year Eve revelry, Reyes said.

Festive mood
“Stall owners resorted to this to attract customers,” she said. “It’s all done in the spirit of fun and to give the air a festive mood. It’s entertaining and we’re all happy here.”

The dancers are paid between P200 and P500, depending on a stall’s sales, she said.

The dancing proved successful last year so some stall owners were resorting to this again this year to boost sales.

Other factors
Besides the ban on firecrackers in some Metro Manila cities, Reyes also blamed the lower-than-expected sales on the delayed opening of Ilang-Ilang Bridge in Guiguinto town that would have provided new access to MacArthur Highway.

She said the bridge would benefit potential customers from northern Bulacan and Pampanga who had been discouraged from traveling on the North Luzon Expressway because of high toll fees.

Gov. Wilhelmino Sy-Alvarado is coordinating with the Department of Public Works and Highways to speed up the bridge’s completion and has been assured it will be passable by the second week of December.

‘Ondoy’ aftermath
There are more than 300 stores at the Bocaue fireworks zone and many are relying on the holiday sales to make up for the supplies they lost to floods unleashed by Tropical Storm “Ondoy” (international name: Ketsana) last year.

Teresita Santiago, a stall owner in Barangay Turo, said all of her stocks were swept away by flood water.

Traders are relying on new supplies but these have become more expensive due to the rising cost of raw materials and chemicals, said Celso Enriquez, owner of Uni-Star Fireworks Store.

“None of us were spared by Ondoy, except for one or two who managed to save their stocks,” Enriquez said in Filipino.

*** bombs boost sale of Bocaue firecrackers - INQUIRER.net, Philippine News for Filipinos

[laura]

okay ra au na pabuto . ..ehehe

[reptoid]

Perhaps not banned, but most certainly they should be strictly controlled. Fireworks should be sold only to organizations such as subdivisions once granted a permit (based on safety, supervision & location). Sales to individuals should not be allowed within the city and fireworks found in the possession of children should be immediately confiscated.

Fireworks should be a seasonal novelty. Unfortunately in the Philippines they are abused as cheap anti-social amusement. The noise and chemical pollution as well as the numerous serious physical injuries incurred and increased urban fire hazard make this a serious issue.

[Lord_Ac]

How about regulate instead of ban? Me and my family are Chinese. We use firecrackers every New Year and Lunar New Year to drive away 'bad chi'/'bad spirits'. Yeah, it's stupid but it's tradition.