In Bulacan, contractors among biggest buyers of fireworks

FILE PHOTO: A store attendant waits for customers at a stall selling fireworks and sparklers in Bocaue, Bulacan, on Monday, as people start preparing to celebrate the holidays. On ChristmasDay, dealers in Bocaue’s pyrozone reported an increasing demand from last-minute shoppers, causing prices of fireworks and firecrackers to surge. —GRIG C. MONTEGRANDE

BOCAUE, BULACAN—Some of the brightest and loudest New Year’s Eve fireworks displays here and other parts of the province are mounted by the homes of bigtime contractors as well as government and private engineers.

This should not be raising eyebrows, except that the province has recently earned the unenviable tag of being the so-called Ground Zero of public works anomalies.

The corruption scandal unraveling since August last year has thrown the spotlight on the Bulacan district office of the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH), where several engineers and other officials have been dismissed and are now facing criminal complaints.

For many years, some Bulacan-based contractors have spend between P500,000 and P1 million for one night of big bangs, according to an industry source in Bocaue, a town known as the fireworks capital of the Philippines.

They start buying in bulk as early as September and October, including batches they intend to ship to other provinces in Luzon, Visayas and Mindanao.

“Some are for family celebrations, but many are sent as gifts to engineers—the ‘bosses,’” the source said.

Grateful but concerned

While grateful for the brisk business, the source said it was still quite unsettling to realize lately that controversial figures in the corruption scandal are among the “suki” (regular buyers) of Bocaue’s fireworks.

The retailers have come to know the contractors personally, aware of where they get their money.

This knowledge thus comes with a wry observation: “The bigger and more spectacular the fireworks, the more luck they believe it brings to their business.”

Lea Alapide, the current vice president of the Philippine Pyrotechnic Manufacturers and Dealers Association Inc. (PPMDAI), said vendors have long observed that wealthy businessmen buy fireworks in bulk not only for their personal use.

“Not only expensive brands like Louis Vuitton can be special gifts. Fireworks can also be expensive and special holiday gifts that promote our industry [in] Bulacan,” she said.

But “our members cannot choose their buyers, much less ask where the money comes from,” Alapide said. “As long as the products are legal, the manufacturers and dealers are licensed, and taxes are paid, we assume everything is in order.”