Narra Mayor Gerandy Danao renew his vow to end mining in their town in his opening message in an event of the Department of Agriculture (DA) yesterday, January 18.
In his speech, Danao said that he will maintain his stand against a local mining company he did not name but said to be located in Barangay Bato-Bato in their municipality.
Danao added that his office received complaints from local Narra farmers saying that their harvest have been affected due to the factors concerning the operation of the mining company.
“Hindi na sila nakaka-ani ng maganda dahil sa epekto ng minahan,” Danao said.
He further added that the long-term effects of the mining operation will be felt by the poor.
“Tayong mahihirap ay tuloy-tuloy ang sakripisyo, ‘yan pong minahan na ‘yan, pagkatapos nila diyan lalayas na ‘yan diyan. Iiwanan na lang nilang nakatihaya ‘yan diyan,” Danao said.
Before he ended his speech, he vowed that he will continue to fight for what he thinks is right.
“Sa inyo pong lahat, tuloy-tuloy lang tayo. Lalabanan natin silang lahat,” Danao said.
Although he did not drop a name to identify what mining company he was referring to, the only mining company situated in the said town is the Citinickel Mining and Development Corporation (CMDC), which recently filed a case against the embattled mayor due to his failure to issue a permit for the mining company in 2019, saying that the mining company needs to settle a controversial P94 million in local tax supposedly due the municipality.
In a recent report, CMDC stressed that they will not pay any tax to the local government because they are accredited by the Board of Investments (BOI) which affords exemptions to investors and makes them exempted from paying the alleged P94 million local tax from 2012-2015.