Published: 11:00am, 30 Dec 2025
As the Philippines counts down to the new year, authorities are bracing themselves for another familiar increase in injuries and deaths linked to fireworks, despite decades of regulation, annual warnings and stepped-up police raids.
Health officials say dozens of people have already been hurt in the run-up to December 31, with more casualties expected as Filipinos usher in the new year with explosive celebrations that light up streets, backyards and skylines across the country.
The Department of Health said as of Saturday, at least 57 people had been treated in government hospitals for firework-related injuries, including children who lost fingers when fireworks exploded in their hands. Police have also reported deaths linked to stray bullets fired into the air during Christmas celebrations.
Despite these risks, fireworks remain deeply woven into the country’s new year traditions, driven by a belief that loud noise scares away bad luck and evil spirits.
Every year from November onwards, health officials, firefighters and police issue warnings, raid illegal dealers and urge the public to avoid powerful pyrotechnics.
And every December 31, millions of Filipinos pour into the streets or stay in their backyards and set off a vast assortment of fireworks – many of them illegal and most of them dangerous.
People look at firecrackers at a store in the Philippines. Every December 31, millions of Filipinos will set off a vast assortment of fireworks – many of them illegal and most of them dangerous. Photo: BAN Toxics
“We urge the Philippine National Police and local government units to intensify on-site monitoring and confiscate illegal firecrackers as New Year’s Eve approaches,” Thony Dizon, advocacy and campaign officer of the environmental protection group BAN Toxics, said in a statement on Sunday.
Filipinos are expected to light up New Year’s Eve with sparklers, miniature explosives, home-made cannons, flares, rockets, pinwheels, starbursts, whistle bombs and Roman candles, alongside costly and elaborate displays.
A few will also fire guns into the air, a practice police warn carries a high risk of killing or injuring someone when spent bullets fall back to the ground.
Manila in particular is expected to be rocked by near-constant explosions, wreathed in smoke and flashes of light, with injuries mounting as the hours wear on.
By New Year’s Day, the city typically wakes to quieter streets shrouded in smog, smelling of gunpowder and littered with scraps of scorched paper.
The chaos persists despite a 33-year-old law regulating the manufacture, sale and use of firecrackers, which bans devices considered unsafe, oversized or fitted with dangerously short fuses.
Vendors continue to sell prohibited pyrotechnics that exceed allowed explosive limits or burn too fast to be safely handled, according to police and regulators.
Many of these fireworks are made in clandestine factories in the central province of Bulacan, a long-established hub of the firecracker industry, before being shipped out and stored in residential neighbourhoods, authorities say.
A man injured by a firecracker arrives for treatment in Manila after new year celebrations. Health officials say dozens of people have already been hurt in the run-up to December 31 this year. Photo: AFP
On Christmas Day, a 21-year-old female student and a seven-year-old girl were killed in Dagupan City in northwest Luzon when a two-storey house they were walking past suddenly exploded.
According to a Philippine Daily Inquirer report, the building was being used as a repacking site for illegal firecrackers.
The Philippine Star reported that one person in Manila was killed by a stray bullet early on December 25, while the health department said two children, aged eight and 16, lost fingers after fireworks exploded in their hands.
This year, the Philippine National Police said it had identified 31 specific firecrackers as prohibited and warned it would arrest, fine and jail anyone caught using them.
The names of some of the banned items hint at their power: King Kong, Dart Bomb, Super Lolo, Atomic Bomb, Bin Laden, GPH Nuclear and Goodbye Philippines.
Far from being deterred by police raids, illegal manufacturers regularly introduce new explosives, often giving them names drawn from current events or public figures.
This year, authorities flagged powerful devices – some resembling sticks of dynamite – bearing names such as “Zaldy Co”, “Curlee and Sarah Discaya” and “Imee Marcos”, after personalities who have been in the news over alleged corruption scandals.
Illegal fireworks in the Philippines. Photo: BAN Toxics
Police are also concerned about the spread of boga, modern versions of the traditional bamboo cannon.
These improvised devices use PVC or glass pipes and ignite mixtures of calcium carbide, alcohol or gas to produce thunderous explosions, often triggered by toy gun mechanisms.
Boga are banned because of the high risk of blast and burn injuries, but remain popular in some communities.
The Inquirer reported on Saturday that police in the northern city of Tuguegarao seized at least 100 such cannons, while officials warn that online tutorials showing how to build them are easily accessible.
In the days leading up to New Year’s Eve, firecrackers are sold openly by street vendors, pop-up stalls and through online advertising, despite periodic crackdowns by police and local governments.
Price does little to dampen demand. Small firecrackers can cost under 100 pesos (US$1.70), while elaborate displays run into the hundreds of thousands, with one company offering what it calls a “symphony of lights package” for 208,000 pesos (US$3,540).
Authorities say they have tried to limit the damage by designating areas for selling fireworks and clearing common spaces where they can be used.
A boy cries at a hospital after being treated for injury in a firecracker explosion while celebrating the new year in Manila. Many Filipinos welcome the new year with fireworks, allegedly to bring them good luck and to drive away evil spirits. Photo: AP
Yet experience suggests that on Wednesday, many Filipinos will set off prohibited firecrackers wherever they choose.
Despite the toll – injuries, fires, air pollution, terrified pets and streets littered with debris – the attraction remains strong.
“It’s the sound and the danger, the thrill, it’s so sudden,” said Charley Salonga, 69, human resources head of the construction and engineering firm First Balfour.
He understands better than most the risks behind that allure: a firecracker permanently altered his life when he was 15.
“It was the day of December 31. I was making a firecracker for New Year’s Eve,” he told This Week in Asia.
As he compressed the device, it exploded in his hands.
“I must have tightened it too much and created friction,” he said.
Charley Salonga’s life was permanently altered at age 15 when a firecracker exploded in his hands, destroying his dream of studying medicine to become a surgeon. Photo: Handout
Salonga lost consciousness and was rushed to hospital, where doctors told him the blast had torn off all the fingers of his right hand except his little finger.
“I was shocked – it was as if my entire future was suddenly altered,” he said.
He had planned to study medicine and become a surgeon, but the injury made that impossible.
“I regret it because I would never know if I would have been a good doctor,” he said.
Salonga said his father helped him cope after the accident by telling him in hospital: “You still have your brain.”
He admitted that even after the incident he continued playing with firecrackers “for a while”, before realising, he said, “the foolishness in it”.
His advice now is blunt. “It’s not worth it.”
Salonga said he would still watch “safe firecracker explosions”, but added: “Now we don’t do it any more. My granddaughter’s afraid of loud noises.”