Written by 
Most houses of the Badjaos in Mambaling are made of wood and are suspended over the water.
“Bale naay CR, pero direct ra sya. Mao na gyud na siya, sa una pa (We have a CR, but it’s direct. We already got used to that),” said Daomani.
It’s not only the residents in Sitio Naba engaging in this practice, some residents living near the riverbanks are also doing the same.
There are around 6,200 structures standing along the eight major rivers in Cebu City.
Cenro head Editha Peros said that based on the surveys and profiling that have been conducted, there is a proliferation of settlers along riverbanks and coastlines and majority of them have no toilet facilities.
For the past nine months, the Ceset has so far issued citation tickets to 17 households due to a lack of septic tanks.
City Ordinance (CO) 2398, or the Septage Ordinance, penalizes household owners whose houses have no proper toilets or septic systems.
Violators may be fined P1,000 for the first offense; P3,000 for the second offense; and P5,000 with imprisonment of not less than one month and more than six months or both for the third offense.
The water contamination was also attributed to the lack of a sewage treatment plant (STP) in the Cebu City Jail male dormitory, which remained unimplemented despite the P100 million budget allocation in 2019.
In March, City Councilor Nestor Archival raised concerns about the lack of a sewage treatment plant in the male dormitory, describing it as an “environmental disaster.”
The male dormitory of the jail facility is home to around 10,000 inmates.
Archival said it has been five years since the City Council declared the area in a state of calamity, approving a P100 million budget for building a sewage treatment plant. However, no STP has been built until now.
“Imagine, thousands of inmates discharge their wastes daily, all those go directly to the river… This worsened the situation in the Badjao area,” said Archival.
Peros said a person generates about 250 grams of waste daily, with animal waste being a greater source of contamination.
The Cenro reported that piggeries in the city’s mountain barangays are a major contributor to high bacteria levels in local waters. Many hog raisers secretly dispose of animal waste into creeks and other bodies of water via pipes built underground.
In a previous report of SunStar Cebu, the Cenro found out that some piggeries in Barangays Bonbon, Tisa, Adlaon and Buot were disposing of their waste to the river.
Peros said a single hog can produce about 5,200 grams of waste a day.
“While it may not be solely due to piggeries, there is a huge difference in terms of waste generated versus that of humans and other warm-blooded animals,” said Peros.
Hogs slaughtered at some slaughterhouses could reach up to 1,000 per day, according to DVMF data, and Peros said such could be the number of waste generated in slaughterhouses.
Effects
Known as sea gypsies, most Badjaos once make their living from fishing, but this has changed over the years.
Daomani said with the fish population dwindling due to pollution, many Badjao families now rely on selling goods like towels and pearl trinkets instead of fishing — a shift that disrupted their traditional way of life.
“Before, almost all members of the family would go fishing. Now, we only go fishing when it’s (peak) season,” said Daomani.
BFAR 7 Director Mario Ruinata confirmed Daomani’s observation that the fish in Cebu City’s waters have declined over the years, with the majority of the fish that remain being those that can tolerate high levels of water pollution like kitong (rabbitfish), while on the rivers, there’s tilapia.
Ruinata said water with fecal materials, if it remains untreated, will result in decay, depleting the water’s oxygen, and will eventually lead to fish kill.
This was further confirmed by Utlang, saying most of the fish present are those that consume waste.
“Mao na sila, kanang kusog mukao’g wastes. Tamboka lagi anang uban makuha diha (Those that consume wastes heavily. Most of the catches there are really fat),” she said.
Utlang said the amount of fish the fisherfolk can catch in the area is only enough for daily consumption, saying the city’s water is not suitable for commercial fishing.
She said the catches from the area will only be safe for human consumption if it is cooked properly.
Ruinata said fish caught from that area should be cooked at high temperatures, like frying, so bacteria will be killed.
He suggests consumers not to eat them raw, saying “kilaw” is a classic Filipino favorite.
Entrails of the fish should be thoroughly removed, he added.
Aside from fish, shellfish should also be cooked properly, considering these marine species are filter feeders.
Not cooking and cleaning properly the catches there may lead to stomach ache, vomiting, diarrhea and fever, said Ruinata.
Ruinata said if accumulated within the human body, this may also lead to the development and presence of parasites.
Other diseases and illnesses that can be contracted from water with high fecal coliform counts include typhoid fever, hepatitis, gastroenteritis, dysentery and ear infections.
State of the sea gypsies
What Luardo experienced was only the tip of the iceberg.
Attributed to the pollution and living conditions of the Badjao tribe, City Health Department (CHD) head Daisy Villa said the most prevalent illness among them is upper respiratory tract infection (URTI).
“That’s what we have observed. It’s maybe because of the depressed area,” said Villa.
Sickness that can be considered as URTI are colds, coughs and tuberculosis (TB).
Tuberculosis, according to the Department of Health, is caused by the Mycobacterium tuberculosis bacterium, wherein transmission occurs in crowded and poorly ventilated spaces where individuals are in close contact with someone who has TB.
In a study conducted by the College of Education of the Cebu Technological University Main Campus in 2018, 95 percent of their Badjao respondents brought up that one of their problems was overpopulated households, where an average of eight members stay under one roof.
The research showed it makes transmissible illnesses difficult to control.
“Sickness is pervasive among the Badjaos because of poor sanitation and overpopulated households. In most cases, the Badjao children were worst affected by it,” reads a portion of the thesis.
In a study by Dr. Carlo Irwin Panelo from the USAID Protect Health Organization in 2022, he said the burden of tuberculosis remains high, especially among the poor.
Panelo specifically mentioned in his study the interventions that their organization conducted for the Badjao community in Mambaling.
Aside from URTI, CHD data showed there were two children in 2023 and 2024 from the tribe who were considered malnourished.
Villa said there were no cases of parasitism and scabies recorded so far among the children, but they make sure anti-parasitic medications are distributed for children aged 12 to 59 months every six months.
Measures
From April to July, 19 individuals were charged with criminal actions by the Cenro for failure to pay and settle their fines after violating the prohibitions under CO 2398.
The Cenro, however, was not able to provide the breakdown of the violations committed by the 19 erring individuals.
Peros said after July, the Cenro has not instituted any new criminal cases anymore, saying they prioritize providing assistance to residents to secure septic permits.
The City collected P405,000 in administrative fines.
Peros said fines are collected as an alternative to filing criminal charges against the offender.
Luardo said the Ceset also initiated an initiative called “Tuktok alang sa Kalikupan,” where Ceset personnel, along with the barangay environmental officers (BEO), would knock on the houses to educate and inform the residents about the septage ordinance.
The Ceset is conducting this in barangays where major rivers — Bulacao, Butuanon, Estero de Parian, Guadalupe, Kinalumsan, Lahug, Mahiga and Tejero Creek — pass by, which include Barangays Mabolo, Carreta, Tejero, Tinago, San Roque, Sto. Niño, Ermita, Pasil, Suba, Sawang Calero, Duljo Fatima, Mambaling, San Nicolas, Basak Pardo, Cogon Pardo and Inayawan.
“We talk to them about the ordinance and, at the same time, we ask for their commitment not to throw their garbage directly into the river. We let them sign a paper to signify their commitment,” said Luardo.
Luardo said they also took the opportunity during their visits to check if the household has a proper toilet facility and septic tank.
One of the long-term plans of the City to address this concern is really to relocate the residents who will be displaced by its flood mitigation project, Gubat sa Baha, by constructing medium-rise buildings.
The City has a pending housing project, the South Coastal Urban Development (Scud), which remains unimplemented 19 months after its groundbreaking ceremony on Feb. 27, 2023.
The Scud is expected to house 8,000 informal settler families and low-wage earners and will be built across four barangays in the city, including Barangays Mambaling, Basak San Nicolas, Cogon Pardo and Inayawan.
The City also has plans to build transitional housing units in SRP — a housing project where the displaced families will stay before they are moved to Scud.
But, the transitional housing has yet to be built.
Another measure the City has been conducting is the quarterly river and coastal clean-up, where an average of over 80 tons of garbage are collected.
The DVMF, meanwhile, has been conducting a study on the waters of SRP to determine its capability to support fisheries before implementing no-take zone restrictions in the area as a preparatory measure for its plan to introduce fish cage aquaculture.