No single casualty due to firecrackers or firearms during the New Year’s Eve celebration were recorded in Western Visayas based on the monitoring of the Police Regional Office (PRO 6).
However, Negros Occidental province has posted the highest number of injuries due to firecrackers with 25 out of the 63 cases recorded in the region for the period Dec. 31, 2011 to Jan. 1, 2012.
Iloilo province has 10 followed closely by Bacolod City with nine.
On the other hand, Iloilo City recorded seven; Aklan has five while Antique and Capiz has three cases each.
Guimaras province has only one injury.
The PRO 6 operations division noted a decline in the number of cases compared with the same period in 2010-2011.
In 2010-2011, the PRO 6 recorded 72 fire-cracker related injuries with one death and arrested four persons for illegal possession of firearms. Two fire incidents due to firecrackers were also reported during the said period.
A monitoring done by the Department of Health-Center for Health Development 6 (DOH-CHD 6) showed lower cases of firecracker-related injuries with 35 although one casualty was recorded due to “boga” and one injury due to a stray bullet.