An urban poor community in Manila endures the impact of the coronavirus pandemic on its own amid a lockdown that forces people, including daily wage earners, to stay at home.
Sitio San Roque in the village of Bagong Pagasa in Quezon City is home to at least 6,000 informal settlers.
On April 1, residents staged a demonstration to demand food and financial aid from the government. As least 21 of the protesters were arrested.
The incident caught the attention of some people who established community kitchens that have since served about 3,000 people in the village on a daily basis.
On April 15, Sitio San Roque had recorded its first confirmed case of the new coronavirus disease.
“It is a time bomb waiting to explode,” said community leader Inday Bagasbas. “If the disease starts to spread, there is no way to contain it,” she said.
As of April 15, Quezon City in the Philippine capital has recorded the highest number of confirmed COVID-19 cases in the country at 956 with 59 deaths.
See photos by Mark Saludes below.
