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Building for the future Vice President and Minister of Education, Milagros Ortiz Bosch signed an agreement with Monsignor Agripino Núñez, rector of the Pontificia Universidad Catolica Madre y Maestra and businessman Jose A. Leon, of E. Leon Jimenes (manufacturers of Marlboro cigarettes and Presidente beer), to prepare 50 grade school and mid school trainers in civics education. The program seeks to prepare the teachers to teach to other public school teachers the values of real ethical and moral values of a democratic society. The news comes like a breath of fresh air amidst so many stories of corruption in government, and lack of ethical values in all areas of Dominican society. The Ministry of Education will choose 20 professions from public schools and the PUCMM will choose 30 that will study at a special program at the university. The Grupo E. Leon Jimenes is funding the RD$2 million estimated cost of the 50 scholarships. In her speech announcing the new program, Minister of Education Ortiz said that civic education is an important column on which to build the progress of the nation. She said that the Ministry of Education is investing RD$20 million in a nationwide civic education program in grade school and mid school. |
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New power rates The Superintendence of Power issued Resolution 31-2002 that announces the new power rates effective 1 October. The power companies have been authorized to adjust these monthly, factoring in any increases in fuel, the exchange rate and the local and foreign inflation. In the past, the government had accumulated the amounts as debt owed to the power companies. The debt led to a financial crisis in the system and an increase in blackouts. The percentage of the increase is inversely proportionate with consumption. Residences consuming up to 75 kilowatts per hour will pay 103% more, those consuming 1,000 kilowatts per hour will pay 33% more. These rates will be adjusted monthly. El Caribe newspaper today gives readers an idea of what to expect. The old rates were: The first 50 kilowatts per hour were RD$1.06 The 51-300 kilowatts per hour RD$1.43 301+ kilowatts per hour RD$2.56 The new scale of prices stipulates that new rates for small businesses start at RD$2.49 for the first 300 kilowatt per hour and RD$3.07 for consumption beyond that point. The fixed amount is increased from RD$3.97 to RD$39.04. Commercial clients will pay a fixed amount of RD$23.85 on their bills. The newspaper explains that the bill for a client that consumed 500 kilowatts in August would have come to RD$922.50. This is the addition of RD$53 for the first 50 kilowatts, plus RD$357.50 for the next 250 kilowatts and RD$512 for the next 200 kilowatts. The bill for service in September will be RD$1,351 for the same service. This will be the result of RD$747 for the first 300 kilowatts and RD$614 for the additional kilowatts per hour, plus a fixed charge of RD$39.04. |
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Inflation under control, says President President Hipolito Mejia does not believe the increases in power nor the proposed 7% increase in wages for the private sector will spur a run on inflation. Mejia has said the Dominican Republic does not have an inflation problem. He says that most of the products purchased by Dominicans will not be affected. He said the government will continue to insist on the passing of the “paquetito,” or the tax revenues revision package at present in Congress. El Caribe newspaper points out that in his 17 September speech on the power situation, the President recognized that accumulated inflation over the past 30 months was 16%. This was one of the arguments used to justify the increases in power bills. Earlier, Governor of the Central Bank Frank Guerrero Prats had said that in the year-end forecasts for inflation, the government had already factored in the increases in power rate. |
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Police force to collect for power companies The Mejia administration decreed the creation of a police force to assist power companies in the collection of their debts. This is probably a first time taxpayer revenues are used to create a public force to assist a private company to collect their bills and fulfill their contractual obligation. Diario Libre says that the cable TV companies, affected by high fraud levels, should also request the assistance of the government to collect their bills. The power companies have yet to invest in new circuits and individual meters. This would enable them to cut the service of the individuals that do not pay on time, such as the telecommunications companies do. Instead, they have convinced the government to create the support police force. Decree 748-02 creates the Programa Nacional de Apoyo a la Eliminacion de Fraude Electrico (PAEF) will serve as a police force to support the collection of power service on behalf of the power distributors. The new force arrested two yesterday for offering fraudulent connections to Edenorte and Edesur under the disguise of being company employees. |
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President ratifies new power ruling The Executive Branch ratified the Ruling for the Application of the General Electricity Bill but introduced changes. Decree 749-02 increases the penalties for fraudulent connections and theft of power. But at the same time, the ruling increases the penalties to the power companies for violations in their contractual agreements with clients. It also authorizes manufacturing free zones to qualify as non-regulated clients and connect directly with the generators. It gives the power companies six months to complete necessary maintenance of power lines in order to reduce power outages. |
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President of Guatemala to visit President Alfonso Portillo of Guatemala and First Lady Evelyn Morataya are expected Sunday evening for a two-day visit. On Monday, the Guatemalan statesman will meet President Mejia. The Dominican Republic and Guatemala are signatories of a Central American free trade agreement. |
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More on what Dominicans thinks The Penn, Schoen & Berland-El Caribe newspaper poll looks into what Dominicans think about use of taxpayer money, social programs, modernizing government, blackouts, power privatization and the preferential vote in the congressional election. In today’s issue, the newspaper shares with its readers the answers to the following questions: Do you think that in this government there is less waste in the use of government revenues than in the previous government? 56% say there is more waste, 20% say less, and 21% the same. Do you think in this government there is more or less support to social programs than during the previous government? 37% said more, 34% said less and 24% said the same. Do you think in this government there is more or less support to modernizing government’s administrative side? 33% said more, 35% said less, and 26% said the same. Regarding blackouts, comparing the present situation to last year’s, have blackouts increased, declined or the same? 72% of those polled said there are more, 12% said less, and 15% said the same. Do you think production, distribution and collection of power should continue in private hands or should we return to the old systems of the CDE? 14% said it should remain in private hands, 83% said we should return to the old CDE. In the past May congressional election did you use the preferential vote system, marking the spot for your favorite deputy? 79% said they marked their favorite deputy, 19% said they did not mark any specific deputy. If you had the opportunity to migrate, without your life being at risk, would you or would you stay here? 56% said they would leave, 40% said they would stay. For this poll, 1,032 citizens enabled to vote were interviewed. The poll was carried out 23-26 August. |
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The gruesome Llenas Aybar case Forensic physician Danny Moquete who performed the autopsy on the body of 12-year old Jose Rafael Llenas Aybar confirmed yesterday in court that she found that the child had suffered anal rape 48 hours prior to the autopsy. The Santo Domingo Appeals Court is hearing the case after the lawyer of Mario Jose Redondo Llenas’s lawyer, one of the two young adults accused of the crime, appealed on grounds that his defendant was not allowed a fair trial. In the case, satanic cult rites have come to the forefront. The 12-year old died of multiple stab wounds on 3 May 1996. Moquete said that she was not able to carry out other tests because part of the evidences were lost after the body had been bathed and wounds sutured prior to the body being taken to the Institute of Forensic Pathology for the autopsy. She said the child could have been raped on the same day of the murder, but this could not be ascertained because the bathing of the body. In court, Julio de Peña Santos, who the El Caribe newspaper refers to as “supposedly a former lawyer of the Palma Meccia family”, or the family of former Argentinean ambassador Teresa Meccia de Palmas, stated that the husband of the ambassador Luis Palma and her son, Martin, practiced satanic cults at a temple located on 27 de Febrero Avenue. According to Peña, the Palma de la Calzada group head had already killed two people in the east of Santo Domingo in the same manner that Llenas Aybar died and that they kept a body of a man frozen prior to disappearing the corpse. |
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Importing of Haitian child beggars A study carried out by the International Migration Organization and UNICEF reveals that more than 2,000 Haitian children enter the Dominican Republic every year to be used as beggars for others. The study shows that they enter with the complicity of the military stationed at the border that accept bribes to let them pass. According to the study, the parents of the children that are smuggled into the Dominican Republic consent to the practice due to the extreme poverty conditions they suffer in Haiti. The study reveals that one of every three children that enters the Dominican Republic stay never return to Haiti. |
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Business show in Miami The First Dominican Business, Financial & Tourism Expo opens today in Miami, Florida at the Miami Convention Center as part of Dominican Week in Miami celebrations. The trade show will be open through 5 pm on Sunday, 22 September and is a central part of a series of business and investment promotion events taking place this weekend in Miami. For more on the Miami Dominican Week program, see http://www.rvhb.com |
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20 games for Bartolo Colon Bartolo Colon of the Montreal Expos became the first Dominican pitcher to reach the 20 game victories this season. He is only the sixth Dominican pitcher to make the mark. He joins the likes of Dominican superstars Juan Marichal, Joaquin Andujar, and Ramon and Pedro Martinez and Jose Lima. A Montreal Expos news release explains that with his 20th win of the year, Colon becomes only the second pitcher to record 10 wins in both leagues in the same year. Colon is 20-7 this year -- 10-4 with Cleveland and now 10-3 with Montreal. The only other pitcher to win at least 10 games in both leagues in the same year was Hank Borowy, who did it with the Yankees and Cubs in 1945. See http://mlb.mlb.com/ |
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