Following a lengthy debate, the Chamber of Deputies approved the modified tax reform package last night in a second reading. The legislation, which was compiled by the PLD and submitted to Congress by former President Hipolito Mejia, went through with the "critical votes" of the PRD and PRSC opposition parties, according to the Listin Diario. The bill was approved by a vote of 126 for and six against, while seven deputies did not vote. If this fiscal package is ratified by the Senate, the government will take in RD$6 billion between now and the end of 2004, while 2005 would see official revenue of more than RD$19 billion.
Shortly before its approval, Alfredo Pacecho, the Chamber of Deputies leader, and Ramon Agramonte, the spokesman for the PRD, announced that a draft bill would be submitted to Congress within the next week, with the aim of establishing a 30% salary increase for public- and private-sector workers of the country. The PRD attempted to introduce this measure in a new article of the legislation last night, receiving a vote of 68 deputies for (41 PRDs and 26 PRSCs) and 50 against. When the constitutionality of this process was challenged, an impasse looked likely in the legislative house. After a 20-minute recess, however, it was announced by Pacheco, Agramonte and the PLD's Elias Serulle that the measure would be submitted separately, according to Diario Libre.
Among the items removed from the legislation was the Selective Consumption Tax that would have established a 16% surcharge on insurance, advertising and air and ocean fares. Instead, a 16% VAT (or ITBIS) will be levied for air and marine transport of cargo and passengers alike. Advertising services in the media are to be assessed 6% until 31 December 2004, 10% in the year 2005, and 16% in 2006. Taxes on alcoholic beverages were set at 50%, from a previous 40%, while cigarettes will be hit with a surcharge of 40%.
According to the new fiscal laws, salaries less than RD$22,000 will not be assessed. In addition, a measure approved in Article 9 of the fiscal legislation, which deals with anticipated earnings, establishes that the authorities will not allow companies to use balances owed to them to remit the 1.5% of their expected gross income for 2004.
Decree 1014-04 named the new Dominican consuls in New York and Miami, as well as those in the Haitian city of Anse-a-Pitre, Boston and Mayaguez, Puerto Rico. Laura Faxas was appointed as the Dominican ambassador to UNESCO. Decree 1012-04 named Belarminio Javier Gonzalez as consul-general in Miami, and five vice-consuls to serve under him. Decree 1031-04 named Domingo Ramirez as consul in Panama. In local appointments, Decree 1009-04 names Melanio Paredes as the new director of INFOTEP, the technical school that operates in several cities. Also named in the same decree are former deputy Oquendo Medina, who was placed at the head of the National Commission of Public Spectacles, the TV, radio and newspaper watchdog organization. Olga Fernandez was placed at the top of the Office for the Development of the Frontier and Leoner Metz is the new postmaster for IMPOSDOM. Control of the National Sugar Institute was handed to Faustino Jimenez and retired General Jose Elias Valdez Bautista became the head of the Port Authority. The President, in decree 1010-04, designated Armando Jose Castillo as the chairman of the board of directors of the CDEEE.
President Fernandez also named his Council of Economic Advisors, an unpaid group of leading businesspeople, most of whom are well known in commercial and economic circles. Jose Miguel Bonetti (Mercasid), Jose Luis Corripio (Grupo Corripio), Manuel A Grullon (Banco Popular), Angel Rosario (Interamericana Products), Frank Rainieri (Punta Cana) and Mario Caceres (coffee producers' spokesperson) are among those named.
The new Dominican head of state also continued his war on the pensions issued during the last seven months of the PRD administration, ordering the immediate suspension of all such pensions in autonomous or semi-autonomous organizations by way of Decree 1005-04. Every head of an autonomous or semi-autonomous entity is asked to review all pensions and retirements in their respective capacities.
Attorney General Francisco Dominguez Brito yesterday revoked an order issued by his predecessor Victor Cespedes last 14 August that freed convicted drug trafficker Ormis Freddy Pena Mendez, and another that freed heroin trafficker Maritza Aquino, a woman convicted for carrying 129 packets of heroin in her stomach. Aquino, upon her release, was sent to the DNCD (local Drug Enforcement Agency) to have her case reviewed, where the unit's legal consultant recommended her return to the Najayo prison, since her release was ordered during the government interim. With regard to the Pena Mendez case, Waldo Ariel Suero, the president of the Dominican Medical College, told El Caribe reporters that neither the Society of Endocrinologists nor the Society of Cardiologists had recommended his release for alleged medical reasons. Pena Mendez, a former vice-consul in Port-au-Prince, turned himself in yesterday to the office of the attorney general, who subsequently handed the cases to the Department for the Prevention of Corruption (DEPRECO) for further investigation. The attorney general also placed travel impediments on Cespedes and Alberto Atallah, a former Superintendent of Banks and Administrative Minister for the President. Another to have his travel rights suspended was former general and head of prison administration General Juan Caceres Urena for his role in the wrongful releases. On 19 August, with the new authorities in power, General Caceres Urena, as the former head of prisons, obtained Aquino's release in accordance with the orders issued by Cespedes. In addition to the uproar caused by the Pena Mendez case, as reported yesterday in DR1's News, the attorney general revealed that investigations have detected fraudulent alterations made to the list of pardons that was announced on 16 August, whereby individuals who had not been screened by the pardons commission were added to the list.
The government will provide a "special" fund for the Public Health Ministry in order to pay the overdue subsidies to the hospitals and to allow for expenditures for medicines and fuel for the generators. The exact amount is as of yet unknown, but believed to be between RD$150 and RD$200 million. According to the newly-appointed Minister Sabino Baez, there "is not one penny" in the department's coffers and his unit will have to depend on the good will of suppliers, who have already accorded the ministry with an initial "emergency" delivery of provisions. The minister told El Caribe reporter Itania Maria that "there is very little here." Yesterday, Baez met with the head of the Program for Essential Medicines (PROMESA), Elena Fernandez, and Director of Hospitals Carlon Yunen. During the meeting, they outlined the amounts that would be needed in the short term to face the current crisis in the public hospital system, one that has been called "the worst in history" by the head of the Dominican Institute for Social Security, William Jana Tactuk.
A separate article in the Listin Diario reports on the World Bank and its reminder to the authorities that a RD$30-million loan to reform the public health sector will be canceled if it is not passed in Congress before the end of the year.
The generous subsidy that the government provides for propane gas users in every walk of life, which costs the government a whopping RD$200 million a week, will be partially maintained until January, according to Industry & Commerce Minister Francisco Javier Garcia. While assistance for household use of the fuel will be kept intact, the ministry is expected on Monday to announce a series of measures to gradually remove the subsidy from the areas of transportation and industry. Javier Garcia spoke frankly to the reporters from El Caribe, saying that RD$200 million a week is "unsustainable" for this or any government. He repeated the mantra that the real cost of a gallon of propane gas is RD$62, while the public acquires the gas at RD$25 a gallon. According to the minister, the cabinet for social affairs headed by Vice-President Rafael Alburquerque will be in charge of directing the subsidy to those who need it most, with the goal of saving the government 80% of the nearly RD$10 billion a year that is currently being spent on propane subsidies.
Between now and December, the Dominican Republic is due to pay US$352 million, a sum that includes the deferred payments pending to several international organizations. Mario Mendez, the economic editor of Hoy, reports that the country has not been relegated to default status only because the creditors have taken a flexible attitude and prefer to restructure the debts rather than declare them unpayable. According to his sources, Mendez says the country had US$127 million in overdue payments at the end of July, including US$40 million that had not been revealed to the Paris Club. Some payments have been made since then, however, such as the interest on the sovereign bonds and US$10 million to the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB). The source told the writer that "if the situation had not occurred during the transition period of government, [the debts] would have been declared in default."
The dean of law at the PUCMM campus in Santo Domingo, Flavio Dario Espinal, writes in today's El Caribe that one of the last laws issued by former President Hipolito Mejia was a bad idea, perhaps a very bad idea. The law, which established the system of primary elections for all political parties in the Dominican Republic, is rooted in the idea of "guaranteeing the internal democracy" of the political organizations in their selection process of candidates for presidential, congressional and municipal office. Although the intentions were good, the lawyer-dean says that it was a poorly conceived scheme, even with the recent experiences of the PRD and the PRSC parties to reflect on. Of the various aspects of the legislation that are problematic, one is the minute possibility of avoiding any constitutional scrutiny, since the law goes against the freedom to freely organize themselves and the judicial nature of political parties. These groups are constitutionally guaranteed the freedom to plan and run their internal affairs, as well to dictate their political philosophy. Among other problems, the most important is the fact that the law is based on the illusion that legal norms have the capacity to tame certain realities, and convert entities into democratic institutions that have failed to do so of their own accord. Another serious defect is contained in the practical aspects related to the law which establishes that all parties' primaries will be held on the same day. Espinal doesn't think that a uniform electoral process can be handled by the Central Electoral Board (JCE) concurrently. Espinal opines that what is strange about this law is that it comes from the same political leanings that was proposed the "Law of Slogans" (Ley de Lemas) as a solution to the internal crisis that hit the PRD. Espinal finishes by saying that, just as before, the politicians believed a law could make up for a lack of vision and a lack of a willingness of a good part of the Dominican political leadership and solve their internal problems by negotiation and a respect for party norms.
Voter identity cards (known locally as "cedulas") expiring in 2004 will continue to be valid until 2008, says a report in the Listin Diario today. While there is no need to have these cards renewed, any person wishing to have obtain a duplicate of their present cedula may do so voluntarily at the JCE offices, in order to avoid problems when travelling or conducting banking transactions where the document is required. The head of the cedulas department, Juan Carlos Sanchez, explained that their internal systems automatically update the expiry dates on duplicate cards to read 2008.
This decision stems from an amendment made to the law that says voter identity cards should be valid for a period of 10 years, instead of the previously mandated six. This change took effect in 1998 when the JCE gave the cards a new look by changing their color from blue to yellow.
The front pages all tell the story of how two-time world champion and Pan American victor, Felix Sanchez, won the 400-meter hurdles final yesterday afternoon, amid screams and tears of joy from a nation that sorely needed a boost. Sanchez, who had won his preliminary heats in walkovers, was barely challenged at the eighth hurdle by the USA's James Carter. Living up to his self-designated nickname of "Super" Sanchez, the athlete shifted gears in the final leg and went on to win the race with a time of 47.63, nearly half a second over Danny McFarlane of Jamaica and Namen Keita of France. Carter faded to fourth, apparently stunned by the sight of he Sanchez whizzing by. This was the 43rd straight victory for the DR's track-and-field hero, as he chases the record of 122 consecutive victories set by the great Edwin Moses. Last night, NBC featured the 400-meter hurdle race and admitted that of all the events in the track and field category, the winner of this race was as good as a foregone conclusion.
Sanchez, who was born and raised in the United States, chose to run for the Dominican Republic in honor of his Dominican-born parents. And while his Spanish is certainly not the best, he was proud to bring his medal to the Dominican Republic. He expressed his plans to return to his "home" as soon as possible where he hoped he would be well-received. President Fernandez and many of his staff watched the race from the National Palace and were visibly overjoyed at the spectacle. Fernandez promised a warm welcome for the hero. Roque Napoleon Munoz, the only Dominican ever named to the International Olympic Committee, was on hand in Athens to award his fellow compatriot with the gold medal and his wreath crown. The sound of the Dominican National anthem being played for the first time in the Olympic Games brought tears to the eyes of a great many people, men and women alike, in offices and homes across the country. When Sanchez was asked to say a few words, all he could manage to say was that he didn't have the words to express his feelings on the victory or "the support he received from his country." He hoped everyone would "enjoy this triumph together" when he returned to the DR.
Juana Arrendell hit her highest height of the year, but failed to qualify for the finals in the women's high jump. While she managed to get over 1.89 meters, she failed three times to clear the 1.92-meter that might have led her to the finals. The gold medalist in last year's Pan Am Games, with her score of 1.94 meters, just could not clear the qualifying height. Her all-time best jump of 1.97 meters took place at the Central American and Caribbean Games in El Salvador.
Meanwhile, the Pan American Tae Kwon Do silver medalist in the 58-kilo category, the DR's Gabriel Mercedes, fell to the eventual silver medalist, Oscar Salazar of Mexico. After a forfeit victory, Mercedes retired from the competition due to a dispute over the refereeing.
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