NEW YEAR NIGHTMARES

WAG nyo kaming tularan. (Don’t emulate us).

This was the terse and almost emotional plea of two amputees from Dagupan City who now regret having committed the mistake of picking up firecrackers that misfired and did not explode on the eve of New Year.

The firecrackers exploded in their hands.

Jemmar Llamas, now 36, of Barangay Bonuan Gueset, and Jomari Rosario, now 15, of Barangay Malued survived the explosion that nearly cost their lives and have since moved on, though life would have been kinder for them had they not lost one arm each due to violent firecracker explosion.

It was January 1, 2006, at about 8:00 a.m. when Jemmar, who was then 24, and six of his cousins, went out to to scour Paras Street in Bonuan Gueset for firecrackers that were left unexploded the night before.

There, he stumbled on a rare sized firecracker that was intact. He called his cousins to show to them his find. As they were scrutinizing the firecracker, it suddenly exploded like a bomb badly injuring Jemmar and his cousins.

Little did they know it was a thermal bomb, an imported pyrotechnic, said Jemmar during the launching of this year’s Oplan: Iwas Paputok, a yearly project of the Department of Health (DOH), in Dagupan City. The project was launched by DOH Undersecretary and concurrently Region 1 Director Myna Cabotaje and Mayor Belen Fernandez.

Jenmar Llamas (left) of Barangay Bonuan Gueset, and Jomari Rosario (right) of Barangay Malued exhort barangay folk: “Hwag nyo kaming tularan!” (Punchphoto by Ray Zambrano)

All the victims were rushed to the Region 1 Medical Center where Jemmar’s badly mangled left arm was amputated. His six injured cousins were also treated.

In the case of Jomari Rosario, he was only 12 years old when his right arm was amputated on January 4, 2014. The Super Lolo that he and his friends found on the street exploded before he could scamper away after lighting it.

He said, with his right arm already bloodied and dangling, he rushed home to his parents who in turn rushed him to the Region 1 Medical Center where his arm was amputated.

The thermal bomb found by Jenmar was not in the list of firecrackers being manufactured by shops in Dagupan and even Bulacan.

DOH Undersecretary and concurrently Region 1 Director Cabotaje said she asked the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) to be on the lookout for imported brands of firecrackers that will be sold in the market.

Cabotaje said thermal bombs could have entered the country illegally since it was not in the list of firecrackers and pyrotechnics being manufactured in the Philippines.

Jenmar confessed he had already adjusted to the nightmare that happened to him and his family some 10 years ago. With his right hand, he was able to get employed as a cook in the side road eatery owned by a relative where he earns at least P150 a day to support his family. He now raises a family with his wife Josephine. They are blessed with their two children, Jonathan and Jocelyn, who they will never, never allow to explode firecrackers.

In the case of Rosario, he still goes to school and is now in Grave VII at the Malued Elementary School.

He confessed that at first he had difficulty using his left hand in writing as well as in eating since he was right-handed since birth but is only happy to be alive.

Both Jenmar and Jomari are being invited by the city government to speak in various school symposia about their experiences in order to discourage pupils and students from lighting firecrackers.  (Leonardo Micua)

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