Estan Cabigas

A man mixing chemicals used in making firecrackers. There are serious lapses in observing personal safety measures like protecting himself from the deadly fumes as well as airborne particles.

During the weekend, I was in Babag 2, Lapulapu City to document the firecracker makers there for a submission to Demotix. Typically, during late November and on to the waning days of the year, people converge at this barangay to make one of the most popular and in-demand items for Christmas and, especially, the New Year’s celebration. Traditionally, there is this belief handed from the Chinese that lighting these will drive away bad luck for the coming year!

Babag 2 has always been the traditional firecracker capital of Cebu and one 57 year old man I interviewed, claimed that he started making these since he was 13. Unfortunately, these people do not observe personal protection from inhalation of the harmful chemicals and dust while making these firecrackers. When I pointed this out, I was just told that they haven’t suffered any side effects!

Other than this, unlicensed makers usually play cat and mouse from inspecting teams of policemen.

I made a multimedia slideshow consisting of 22 images last year and it is posted at my travel blog.

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