OPERATOR IN HIDING, SUBJECT OF POLICE MANHUNT

ONE person was killed and four others injured when a clandestine firecracker factory inside a compound in Barangay Tebeng, Dagupan City exploded at 3:45 p.m. on November 16, barely one month ahead of the “OPLAN Iwas Paputok” of the Department of Health (DOH), the Philippine National Police and the Bureau of Fire Protection (BFP), designed to discourage the use of fireworks and firecrackers during the coming Yuletide season.

The fatality was identified as Bernie Sherman Bustillo, 36, one of the workers of the underground fireworks factory, and a resident of Tebeng, who suffered serious third-degree burns all over his body. He died while undergoing treatment at the Region 1 Medical Center in Dagupan City.

The four others injured, among them Merly de la Cuadra, 74, who suffered ruptured eardrums as a result of the explosion that caused her ear and nose to bleed, were already discharged from R1MC after their treatment.

The Dagupan City Police Office (DCPO) said the owner of the underground fireworks factory—reportedly a resident of Bacayao, also in Dagupan City, whose name was withheld, is now in hiding and the subject of an intensified police manhunt.

Residents of the area thought that the suspect was only renting a house within a closed compound. They never thought he had already brought gunpowder, crepe paper, and cardboard, all needed for fireworks manufacturing.

The powerful explosion, which was also heard as far as Binmaley, Calasiao, Mangaldan and Lingayen, shattered windows and cracked walls as the shockwaves rippled across the neighborhood.

Mayor Belen Fernandez, who was among the first city officials who arrive at the scene of the explosion, confirmed that the firecracker factory was illegal and ordered the police to conduct a thorough investigation in a bid to identify and arrest the operator.

Tebeng Barangay Captain Mark Fiel Gomez has ordered a house-to-house search in his village to ferret out any more underground fireworks factories.

The DCPO is now also swiftly inspecting all other Dagupan barangays to find out if there are other firecracker manufacturers. (Ahikam Pasion)