An Inter Press Service Feature
HINIGARAN, Philippines, Dic 28 (IPS) - The past few months have been busy times here in this sleepy town, which happens to be the hub of the pyrotechnics industry in central Philippines.
Filipinos like to greet each new year with a bang, and the people of Hinigaran, some 535 km south of Manila, have been occupied with churning out all sorts of explosives that will be purchased by the dozen and set off once the clock strikes twelve on New Year's Eve.
Among those slaving away here is 12-year-old Wilfredo Montebon, who spends at least ten hours each day hunched over a low table, deftly putting toxic potassium nitrate into stiff paper, which he folds into tiny triangles.
Wilfredo is one of Hinigaran's child firecracker makers. Town elders say children here have been wrapping potassium nitrate for 'trianggulo' or making wicks for firecrackers for decades.
Pyrotechnics manufacturer Arturo Canson says children are "adept" and adds: "They work fast once they've learned on the job. After a few years, they become real experts, like my workers, who were still kids when I took them in."
Philippine laws ban the employment of children 15 years old and younger, except under the sole supervision of their parents or guardian. Republic Act 7658 says under no condition shall a child work if his employment "endangers his life, safety, health and morals, or impairs his normal development".
Hinigaran's fireworks makers say their child workers are not given dangerous jobs, such as mixing or sifting gunpowder. They say the children are limited to making wicks, wrapping potassium nitrate or sealing firecrackers with paste.
Yet the industry is considered one of the most hazardous in the country. Only last month, an explosion in a firecracker factory here injured two children and ignited a blaze that razed 70 homes. A few weeks later, a similar incident occurred in a nearby village.
In rural towns like Hinigaran, the 'factories' are nothing but clusters of huts made of dried palm fronds. Although the law says there should be fire extinguishers in the workplace, the fireworks 'plants' just have big barrels of water.
No one knows how many children work in the pyrotechnics industry in the Philippines, but officials concede Hinigaran is not the only town in the country that has child firecracker makers.
© Inter Press Service (2014) — All Rights Reserved. Original source: Inter Press Service