Residents of an urban poor community in Quezon City had complained about experiencing diarrhea and other health concerns allegedly due to wastewater emitting foul smell that was being released by a nearby construction site.

At least three individuals living in Sitio San Roque interviewed by Save San Roque Alliance, a group fighting for the residents' rights, said the foul odor can be smelled even inside their houses that some of their family members also suffered from vomittting and stomach aches.

"Anim na kaming nagkakasakit dito. 'Yung una akala namin normal lang, di namin inaasahan na galing dito yung amoy nya (Six of us here already got sick. At first, we thought it was just normal. We did not expect that the smell came from the leak)," Alma Esteban, community leader of Area J, said.

"Malangaw talaga sya, pati sa loob ng bahay pumapasok yung langaw (There were a lot of flies, which also go even inside our houses)," she added.

Esteban told the group that the foul smell started as early as February, which persists up until now.

"Yung una sumakit lang tyan ko, eh nagtatae na ako eh (At first, I only experience stomach ache. But eventually, I also had diarrhea)," she said.

"Marami rin nagsasabi sakin na ganon din nararamdaman nila (Many of my neighbors told me they experienced the same)," two more residents said in a separate interview with Save San Roque Alliance.

Although two workers already fixed the motor pump of the sewage, which supposedly caused the leak after it got broken, Esteban said there was still a foul smell.

" asked Ate Alma… if there was any action taken, she said, none until now," Mitzi Sumilang, Save San Roque Alliance's co-head for Area J Task Force, said in a Viber message on Saturday, March 13. She said the update was as of March 11.

In a statement, the group said that the construction waste "poses serious health risks among" the residents.

"Amid the year-long COVID-19 pandemic, threats to completely evict residents of Sitio San Roque in Brgy. Bagong Pag-asa, Quezon City intensified," the group added.

The group also expressed concern about the situation of the residents in the area as the Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG), in a March 11 memorandum circular, also allowed the resumption of demolition and eviction activities.

The lifting of the ban came almost a year after the national government ordered on April 2, 2020 to temporarily halt such activities due to lockdown that limited the movement of people amid threats of COVID-10 spread.

For Sumilang, the DILG's move is not acceptable in the time of pandemic.

"Sa ilalim ng ganitong pandemya ay hindi katanggap-tanggap na pagkaitan ng tahanan ang maralita at mailagay sila sa mas bulnerableng posisyon (In this time of pandemic, depriving the marginalized sectors places to live and putting them in vulnerable situations are not acceptable)," she said.