MANILA (UPDATE) -- A rain-soaked New Year's Eve and the second year of President Rodrigo Duterte's strict guidelines on firecracker use led to "markedly lower" injuries as the nation welcomed 2019, the Department of Health said Tuesday.

From Dec. 21, 2018 to 6 a.m. of Jan. 1, 2019, the DOH recorded 139 cases, down 68 percent from 428 during the same period in the previous year, Health Secretary Francisco Duque said. There were no reported deaths.

Duterte's Executive Order, issued in early 2017, limited the use of firecrackers to designated areas. It attempted to replicate on a national scale the firecracker ban he implemented in Davao City during his term as mayor.

The northeast monsoon or amihan drenched vast swaths of Luzon on Monday, with much of the island still reeling from tropical storm Usman.

"Nature, this time, took the side of the DOH," Duque told a televised news conference.

Duque added that the DOH's "unrelenting" social media campaign against fireworks was effective.

"Effective sa mga pasaway yung takutan strategy or approach. So binalik na naman natin yung mga nasunugan, nasabugan ng kamay," he said.

(The fear strategy is effective. We brought back the campaigns showing burned, blasted hands.)

Majority of the injuries were males with the media age at 11. One hundred two blast cases did not require amputation while 5 others did. There were 36 eye injuries, he said.

This was due to the rise in popularity of "boga," a canon-like noisemaker, which replaced piccolo as the number 1 cause of firecracker-related injury, Duque said.

Duque advised parents to warn their children against picking up unexploded firecrackers on the street.

"We see how treacherous these firework and pyrotechnic devices can be because ito na nga, designated fireworks display, kahit paano meron pa ding sumasabit," he said.

(We see how treacherous these firework and pyrotechnic devices can be because even with designated fireworks displays, injuries still happen.)

"We are indeed happy to see a 68-percent decline in the number of cases, we also expect cases to increase as there are late reports still coming from regions," he said.

The DOH is fully supportive of a total ban on firecrackers but it has yet to look into alternative livelihoods for those who will be adversely affected, he said.

"I think the total ban is the way to go. If Davao City has exemplified total ban and therefore zero casualty why can’t the Philippines do it under the presidency of Rodrigo Duterte… Palagay ko papunta na tayo diyan (I think we're headed in that direction)," he said.