Municipal Mayor Gerandy Danao urged the Citinickel Mines and Development Corporation to pay its unpaid obligations before renewing its permit on January 2020.
According to a Daily Tribune report, Danao has already sent a formal notice to the mining firm to settle its unpaid taxes amounting to P94 million in compliance of the Municipal Tax Code of Narra.
However, Citinickel President Fernando Pallera questioned the legality of the ordinance, claiming to have paid their business taxes for the previous years of its operations as issued in a mayor’s permit from 2010 to 2018.
In the letter, Pallera said that the company was exempted from payment of the business taxes since it was registered with the Board of Investments as New Producer of Beneficiated Nickel Ore.
“I don’t know how Citinickel was allowed to operate and was given a mayor’s permit when there were unpaid local taxes to Narra,” Danao was quoted as saying in the report.