By Ruel S. De Vera, Associate Editor
Sunday Inquirer Magazine

BOY, we love to blow stuff up, don’t we? The firecracker ban that the government says is being enforced every year is like nuns buried in the schoolyard: You hear about it all the time but there is no evidence of it. Though it seems terribly KJ of us, there are Filipinos who genuinely dislike firecrackers, even as children. Fireworks we can get behind—those sky shows with the brilliant shards falling to the ground—and quite impressive. But the noisy stuff? Pass.

Note that not all the items on this list are illegal. Actually only items 8 to 10 are patently illegal. But each form of firecracker (they go pop or boom) or pyrotechnic (they burn bright) has its own pros and cons. Perhaps the best advice for all is to not hold them while lighting them and, even better, to light them from a distance using a really looong stick. Body armor, ear protectors (drummers have these) and maybe fireproof gloves would be useful too.

Then again, I really like just staying indoors and watching the sparks up in the sky. I admit it, the loud stuff makes me go argghh. So here is the scaredy cat’s (that’s me) field guide to paputok and rebentador. [Read the rest of this entry »]