Treñas picks plazas as firecracker zones
ILOILO CITY - Mayor Jerry P. Treñas has decided to limit the sale of firecrackers here in district plazas and in specifically-designated areas.
Treñas directed city police director Sr. Supt. Norlito Bautista to strictly prohibit the sale and distribution of firecrackers in any part of the city aside from the designated areas. Except for the City Proper district where the firecracker zone designated will be the empty downtown lot besides the Imperial Appliance Plaza building, all the public plazas will be utilized as firecracker zones.
But before vendors could sell their pyrotechnic products in the designated parks, the mayor said they must first satisfy certain conditions and requirements. Vendors must have water buckets on standby, sand and plastic covers, as well as a business permit from City Hall, Treñas said. The required water buckets and sand are needed for the rapid extinguishing of small fires, while the plastic covers will ensure that the firecrackers being sold will be safe from being accidental lit, the mayor explained.
The pyrotechnic hawkers will also observe a time frame for conducting business at the designated areas, he added.
Treñas said the immediate vicinity where the firecrackers are sold will be a strictly no-smoking zone.
He said the rules will be strictly implemented to ensure the safety of everybody and to prevent a repeat of an incident in Jaro Plaza where a firecracker stall caught fire a few years ago.
The sale of big firecrackers and the testing of firecrackers will also be prohibited in the designated zones, Treñas said, stressing that those caught manufacturing or selling them will be fined and penalized in accordance with the law.
(Adora B. Bandorio/PIO)