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By Carmencita A. Carillo, January 2 2019; Business World

https://www.bworldonline.com/davao-city-marks-17th-year-of-zero-firecracker-related-incident/

Image Credit to Business World

THE DAVAO City Police Office (DCPO) city recorded zero firecracker-related incident during the 2018 Christmas and New Year’s eve celebrations, marking 17 years of the strict observance of the ban on firecrackers and other pyrotechnic devices. “We thank the residents of Davao City for their cooperation and support on the firecracker ban,” DCPO Director Senior Supt. Alexander C. Tagum said in a statement. City Ordinance No. 060-02 of 2002 prohibits the manufacture, sale, distribution, possession, use as well as the transport of pyrotechnic devices and explosives within the territorial jurisdiction of the city. Former Davao City mayor and now President Rodrigo R. Duterte, initially banned the sale of firecrackers and pyrotechnics in 2001 through an executive order. To welcome the new year, Davao City holds a Torotot Festival every Dec. 31, where people gather and simultaneously blow their horns at midnight. The last festival also had competitions on the biggest horn, torotot-inspired costume, and a torotot dance. — Carmencita A. Carillo