Gov. Joseph Marañon yesterday said 145 victims of firecracker blasts were brought to hospitals and rural health units in Negros Occidental and Bacolod City from Dec. 25 to January 1.

But there were no victims of stray bullets reported, he said.

There were 56 victims of firecracker's related injuries in Negros Occidental and Bacolod City during the New Year's eve celebration, Senior Supt. Rosendo Franco, provincial police director, said yesterday.

Police records showed that the number of New Year's blast victims dropped from 64 in 2007 to 56 this year, and that almost half of the victims were minors.

Despite the absence of any report of persons hit by indiscriminate firing, police chiefs and mobile group commanders were ordered by Franco to have a showdown inspection of all sealed firearms issued to their subordinates, tomorrow.

Hours before the New Year's eve celebration, policemen also seized about P430,000 worth of imported firecrackers, for violation by their owners of RA 7183, or an act regulating the sale, manufacturing, distribution and use of firecrackers and other pyrotechnic devices, from 38 arrested persons, and P30,000 worth of gun replicas, from makeshift market stalls in Negros Occidental.

Senior Inspector Rico Santotome, chief of the Negros Occidental police Special Operations Group, said violators convicted for violation of RA 7183 will face a maximum of one year imprisonment and a fine of more than P30,000, excluding the cancellation of their licenses and business” permits.

The governor said the blast victims were not as many as in the past. At least the people are heeding the call to minimize the use of firecrackers, he said.

Reports furnished Marañon showed that the Teresita L. Jalandoni Provincial Hospital in Silay City had 27 firecracker victims, Calatrava Municipal Hospital – 1, Vicente Gustilo District Hospital – 1, Valladolid District Hospital – 17, Don Salvador District Hospital – 10, Ignacio L. Arroyo District Hospital – 12, Gov. Valeriano Gatuslao Memorial Hospital – 4, and the Lorenzo D. Zayco District Hospital – 6.

Also reported were 11 victims at the Hinigaran Rural Health Unit and one brought to the Murcia Rural Health Unit.

In Bacolod City firecracker victims brought to the Doctor's Hospital were seven, Our Lady of Mercy Specialty Hospital – 1, Dr. Pablo O. Torre Memorial Hospital – 1 and Corazon Locsin Montelibano Memorial Regional Hospital – 46, a report also submitted to the governor said.*GPB

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