VALENCIA, Cagdianao, Dinagat Islands—Nickel Asia Corporation affiliate Cagdianao Mining Corporation (CMC) donated a heavy-duty service truck worth PHP1.5 million to the municipality of Cagdianao on April 3, 2020.

The donation could not have come at an opportune time, as the local government sought to improve its logistics to effectively respond to the 2019 coronavirus disease (Covid-19) crisis.

Municipal Administrator Marc Adelson Longos said the truck will help fast-track the delivery of the relief goods and in the deployment of Covid-19 front-liners such as the Rural Health Unit personnel and members of the Philippine National Police.

More importantly, Longos said it will speed up the relief operations being undertaken by the local government to cushion the impact of the Covid-19 quarantine on marginalized communities.

Mayor Adolfo E. Longos said: “The service truck is very useful especially that the local government unit has many programs and activities to combat Covid-19, particularly in the distribution of relief goods to the 14 Barangays and serve also as service vehicle during emergency cases.”

Mayor Longos also recalled that two years ago, CMC has also provided the local government a bus and a pumpboat to ferry government personnel and improve the town’s delivery of services.

For his part, CMC Resident Mine Manger, Engr. Arnilo C. Milaor, the latest donation from the company reflects its deep commitment to assist the local government improve its services to its constituents.

During the turnover of the heavy-duty truck, Engr. Milaor also pledged to help the town in its fight to prevent the entry of Covid-19.

"The management of CMC knows your vital needs in this critical moment of our life due to life-threatening illness brought about by the Covid-19. We are aware that our municipal government is in dire need of an all-weather transport facility to penetrate remote barangays to bring relief goods and at the same time rescue our brothers and sisters in times of calamities or emergencies,” Milaor said.

“That is why at this trying time, CMC management act proactively and here we are at the doorstep of this Municipal Building, and wholeheartedly to turnover a service truck for the constituents of the municipality of Cagdianao,” he added.

At its mine site, Milaor noted that CMC has also implemented strict Covid-19 protocols and policies to keep its employees and communities safe and secure against the dreaded virus.

Based on the guidelines set by the local and national governments and supplemented by its in-house health and safety protocols, CMC has initiated regular disinfection activities not only on its campsite but also on the immediate communities.

CMC has also donated personnel protective equipment such as face masks, armbands, face shields and disinfectants to front-liners, and provided essential assistance to the barangays to help them implement their own Covid-19 prevention and containment measures.

It also distributed food packs to some 1,300 households within its host and neighboring communities to ease the burden of working families whose livelihoods are being disrupted by the ongoing quarantine.

Covid-19 has already surpassed one million cases worldwide. This virus is an infectious disease that cause severe respiratory illness.