Displaced Danao miners urged shift to farming

Miners who were displaced by the closure of a mining firm in Danao City following an accident that killed one person were advised  to shift to farming.

Councilor Roland P. Reyes encouraged the affected miners, who worked for the temporarily-closed Ski Energy Resources Inc. (SER),  to avail of the city government’s farming training program.

Reyes urged the miners to avail of the free training probecause it will teach them to engage in a livelihood  with less risks involved.

SER’s operations in barangay Dungga were suspended after the March 1 mining accident which killed one miner and injured two others. The suspension has not yet been lifted nearly a month after the accident.

Reyes, who is also the head of the council’s environment committee, said they didn’t expect the suspension to last this long.

“The mining company is still waiting for the investigation’s results of the Department of Energy (DOE),” he said.

He added he would raise the concern in this Tuesday’s regular session and discuss how they would address the problem of the affected miners like perhaps providing emergency employment.

“We still need to talk about that matter. There are a lot of things to be considered. First, we need funds and we need to consult this with our finance committee. Second, we only have limited resources,” he told CDN.

He called again for the affected miners to avail of the free farm training program and cited the city’s location as an advantage.

“Danao City has the advantage in terms of agriculture because most of the areas are mountain barangays,” he said. He said they can learn to plant corn and cassava, which are the city’s main agricultural products.

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