The Fernandez administration has been requiring that all public employees be paid in person in order to detect government payroll irregularities. The Ministry of Education, for one, has said that they have found hundreds of such discrepancies already, among which are the names of 271 watchmen, gardeners, janitors, and office clerks who had been promoted to teacher status and were collecting salaries as such, said Education Minister Alejandrina German. The minister spoke up to contest claims being made by the Dominican Association of Public School Teachers (ADP), who objected to the cancellation of 2,000 teaching jobs. German explained that most of the irregular promotions occurred during the governmental transition period, in order to protect certain employees by promoting them to categories in which they would be unionized and less likely to be fired.
Max Puig, the new minister of environment, says that he will delegate less responsibility to his deputy ministers than his predecessor, Frank Moya Pons. Puig told El Caribe in an interview published in its Sunday edition that he would also review the environmental licenses granted by former Deputy Minister Rene Ledesma, who was in charge of the Gestion Ambiental department of that branch of government. Puig also said that he personally would not assign the approval of these licenses to his subordinates in the future. "We have requested international technical assistance to put a kind of technical audit on the system of approval of licenses and authorizations into place," he said.
He commented that they had reviewed the license granted to the Hotel Laguna Bavaro and that the results would be published soon. The license had been the subject of debate as it was under construction in an ecologically fragile area.
Puig said that some damages caused in the East by Hurricane Jeanne were due to violations to environmental norms.
He mentioned that permits that had been granted in violation of the law would be annulled, as would be those licenses granted in compliance with law but rendered illegal because the beneficiaries did not meet the legal requirements.
When asked for his opinion on the state of the ministry that he inherited, he commented that his predecessor was the first environmental minister. "He had a difficult task before him: to build the institutional framework of the ministry under the direction of an anti-institutional President." Puig acknowledged that Moya Pons was swimming against the current.
Commenting on his staff, he explained that while the law provides for five deputy ministers, there are currently seven on hand, one of whom he said was an administrative deputy minister, a post that had been omitted from the original framework of the ministry.
He said that 30% of the ministry's nearly 4,000 employees are park and forest rangers who earn RD$1,900 a month, which is even less than the governmental minimum wage of RD$2,100. He explained that of 70 protected-status areas, only half have somewhat adequate protection. More than 30 protected areas have been entrusted to a single ranger.
Finally, Puig said that his goal is to be a good manager so that the resources received from local government and foreign sources may be optimized for the protection and best use of the DR's natural resources. He commented that the ministry has just been notified of the approval of a US$10-million Canadian government contribution to be used to salvage the Artibonito river basin.
A technical mission from the International Monetary Fund headed by Steven Phillips met last week with the government's economic team to review advances made in economic policy. The object of the IMF is to assess whether the stand by agreement may be resumed now that the tax reform has been passed. Technical Secretary of the Presidency Temistocles Montas, who participated in the talks, said that the delegation also requested that the government reduce its payroll to the levels of August 2000, which Montas says they are working towards, according to El Caribe newspaper. Montas mentioned that the first printout of the Fernandez administration released by the Budget Department shows that significant progress has been made in this direction. It is expected that further advances can be made so as to resume the agreement by December 2004, reported the Listin Diario.
Central Bank Governor Hector Valdez Albizu traveled to Washington to participate in the Annual Assembly of Governors for member countries of the IMF and World Bank. On the assembly's agenda is a review of the international economic and financial situation and the search for a system to detect early crisis warnings.
Also, an economic team composed of Montas, Finance Minister Vicente Bengoa and economic advisor Julio Ortega traveled to Washington to meet with IMF executives. Another delegation is scheduled to travel on 6 October to meet with the Paris Club executives.
Montas explained in a press conference that the government intends to put all its arrears with the Paris Club and other financial institutions up to date prior to the discussions regarding the stand by agreement.
Employees who were earning RD$20,000 in January will be returned income taxes paid to the government on their wages. The Department of Taxation (DGII) reported that, for instance, an employee making RD$20,000 could obtain RD$4,784.67 in cash. The newly approved tax reform establishes that all wages up to RD$20,000 are exempt from income taxation. El Caribe newspaper explains that a worker earning RD$43,000 will see cash back of RD$6,180.75. By the previous system, the exemption was only extended to salaries of up to RD$16,500.
As the scale works, those earning more than RD$20,000 but less than RD$30,000 will pay 15% on the difference. Those making more than RD$30,000 but less than RD$41,666 will pay 20% on the difference. Those who earn more than RD$41,667 will pay 25% on the difference.
The price of regular unleaded gasoline dropped last Saturday, now selling for RD$93.20 per gallon down from RD$95.20. As such, premium gasoline also dropped to RD$101.60 from RD$104.10 last week. Amid reports of a scarcity, the price of diesel is up to RD$75.50. Shell stations are primarily stocking the fuel. The prices were fixed taking into account a RD$36.15 exchange rate.
Meanwhile, the exchange rate of the US dollar stood at RD$32, with dollars being bought by commercial banks at RD$29-RD$30.50, up from RD$27.50 last week.
A 20-pack of Marlboro cigarettes that previously cost RD$284.92 was increased to RD$368.50 to reflect the increase in taxes following the implementation of the new tax reform.
Similarly, a 22-oz bottle of Presidente beer will now cost RD$50, while a 12-oz bottle sells for RD$30, representing increases of 22% and 20% over previous prices.
As a result of the tax reform legislation that took effect last week, Centennial, Orange, Tricom and Verizon telecommunication companies have announced a 100% increase in taxes on their clients' billings as follows:
The 12% ITBIS tax is increased to 16%.
A new 10% luxury tax, as per the tax reform, is to be assessed on telecom charges.
These taxes are in addition to the 2% CDT surcharge that is collected for the Dominican Institute of Telecommunications (Indotel).
The companies explain that the level of government surcharges on telecommunications now stands at 28%, up from a previous 14%. Prepaid calls will have the taxes incorporated in the price.
Dominican Republic's trade with the Popular Republic of China represented more than US$150 million in 2003, according to the commercial representative Cai Weiquan, who said that this figure is up from a level of less than US$1 million in the 90s. He said that China exported US$130 million in 2003 to the DR, while the DR exported US$36 million during the same period. China's exports were mainly based in equipment and machinery, while it imported such items as coffee, fruits and farm products.
Weiquan also informed that several Chinese investors have expressed interest in the Dominican market joint ventures.
Weiquan considers Taiwan to be an obstacle to increased trade with the DR. Speaking on the TV program Aeromundo that is produced by Guillermo Gomez on Channel 9, the commercial representative said that although the DR maintains diplomatic relations with Taiwan and not China, Taiwan is merely a province of the Republic of China.
Former DR Ambassador to the US Bernardo Vega writes today on the bad timing of sugar mills owners when they supported a modification of the tax reform to include a surcharge on bottled drinks that are manufactured with corn syrup instead of sugar. Vega says that the sugar industrialists should have waited until the US Congress passed the FTA, an event that he estimates will not take place until after February 2005, if it happens. "To do so now creates pressure in Washington to eject us from the agreement, leaving Central America with advantages over our free zones," he writes. The corn lobby, he explains, is one of the strongest and the FTA already has many enemies in Washington. He said that Mexico did not introduce their surcharge until six years after NAFTA was signed.
According to Vega, as a result of introducing the surcharge so early in this administration, despite the fact that the President himself was against the surcharge, he had to stand while two of his cabinet officers defended it. Furthermore, PRD legislators of the same political rank were utterly critical of the FTA, instead of supporting the agreement that was so adamantly defended by their former leader, ex-President Hipolito Mejia. Vega also notes how, for the first time, the American Chamber of Commerce is opposing the interests of one of its principal partners. He believes that the efforts of the two private sugar-producing groups have also divided the nation's business sector.
Vega comments that the FTA will only affect 10% of the total amount of sugar produced because, of the 530,000 tons of sugar produced (of which 185,000 tons are exported to the US and 290,000 are consumed locally), only 60,000 or 10% is sold to soft drink bottlers and those making sweets. He furthermore highlights that Central America opted to increase their sugar quota from 126,000 tons to 225,000 and to let internal sugar sales go to the cheaper corn syrup imports. This did not happen for the DR.
Vega says the President should send a law to Congress to suppress the surcharge on bottled drinks and that it should be ratified. Then, when the US Congress has ratified the FTA, they should wait to see what happens at the World Trade Organization regarding the corn syrup surcharge imposed in Mexico. Then the corn syrup tax could be proposed. "It does not make sense that our Congress be the first to pass the FTA when it could be modified in Washington, as was done with the NAFTA, because this would imply a double and unnecessary toll or one unnecessary toll, in retrospect, if it is not passed.
Vega says that if the sugar industry pushes for the agreement to be revised in order to increase the sugar quota, the country runs the risk that Washington will make increased demands in other areas.
The 15-year-old son of Chamber of Deputies leader Luis Alfredo Pacheco was injured by a bullet to his left leg, at the hands of strangers who attempted to steal a cell phone, sneakers and the Honda 90 motorcycle being driven by his friend, 23-year-old "motoconchista" Leonardo Espinal. He is reportedly recovering satisfactorily in the Plaza de la Salud medical center.
The incident occurred at 10:40pm on Saturday, some 200 meters from Calle Ramon Caceres 228 of the Puerto Isabela (formerly Hoyo de Chulin slum) address where Pacheco lives with his mother and stepfather Teodoro Fernandez. After filling up with gasoline, the two young men were pursued by the four assailants on motorcycles along the Avenida Ortega y Gasset and Paseo de los Reyes Catolicos, up to Calle Ramon Caceres where they caught up with them and tried to commit the robbery. Fernandez explained that assaults are common in the low-income neighbourhood of Puerto Isabela. Magdaleno Torres, a resident of the barrio, explained how minors who use drugs are tempted by the Michael Jordan running shoes that cost RD$8,000 and commit these types of attacks. He said that there were no lights where the victims were traveling and that the assailants were parked on two grey passola-type motorcycles as they waited for their prey.
Alfredo Pacheco said that what happened to his son is part of the wave of delinquency that is affecting Dominican society.
Lawyer Roberto Alvarez writes in El Caribe newspaper today about the myths that continue to appear in the Dominican press regarding the illegal status of Dominicans in the US and the misguided notion that Dominican boat people and deportees are major instigators of crime in the DR. Alvarez is bothered by the whimsical treatment of the statistics. "Emigrants are a source of admiration or disgrace, depending on the topic being covered," he writes. If the focus is on remittances, which stood at US$2.22 billion in 2003, there is praise, he says, while they are at the same time blamed for crime in the DR (18,138 Dominican criminals were deported from the US in the 10-year period of 1994-2003).
The article is motivated by statements recently made by Armed Forces Minister Sigfrido Pared Perez, who stated on 9 September in the Listin Diario that the deportees are one of the principal causes for the increased rate of crime and assaults in recent months. Alvarez asks whether there is any study that supports this statement and comments on the rampant corruption and impunity in the upper echelons of government. As such, he cites the billion-peso bank frauds of last year and the extra-judicial murders at the hands of the National Police of some 1,286 people.
Furthermore, he deals with the report that illegal Dominicans are responsible for 50% of the remittances sent back home, a statement that appeared in a 4 September article published in Hoy by commentator Fabio Herrera-Minino. Alvarez writes that the Institute of Dominican Studies at CUNY estimates the legal Dominican population in the US at 1,289,000. Migration statistics establish that between 1960 and 2003 some 904,540 Dominicans were granted permanent residency status. He explains that this figure includes residencies granted in the DR and the ones granted to those who adjusted their migration status, primarily those benefited by amnesties.
He emphasizes, however, that it is only necessary to compare the data that proves that from 1981 to 2000, some 3,047,000 Dominicans entered the US with temporary visas. Meanwhile, US Coast Guard statistics show estimated landings between 1997 and 2003 of 9,414, or about 1,344 per year.
If you multiply this average by 20 years, the total that would have landed without being captured by the authorities would be no more than 26,897. "As can be noted, there is no comparison between the figures. We need to be careful in the handling of the figures; more than 100 Dominicans have drowned or disappeared in 2004."
Felix Sanchez, who is Brooklyn-born of Dominican parentage, returned to Santo Domingo on Sunday to revel in the grand welcome the city, government and sports groups had prepared in his honor. As a two-time world champion, Felix Sanchez most recently took the gold medal in the 400-meter hurdle event in the Athens Olympics, netting the DR its first gold and only its second Olympic medal ever. Hundreds were on hand to receive Sanchez at the airport, and thousands more expressed their admiration as he drove in a specially-designed open vehicle down Las Americas expressway and on to the Malecon, where a celebratory merengue party was taking place.
As he came through the airport terminal Sanchez was greeted by his father, Sports Minister Jay Payano and Olympic Committee president Luisin Mejia.
Sanchez's gold medal in Athens was the climax of three years of straight wins in the race. His winning streak ended at 43, however, when an injury forced him to stop short during the Brussels IAAF Golden League jackpot race in early September.
Sanchez is a product of the New York and California public school systems' sports programs and is an alumnus of the University of Southern California. While his best time is 47.25, he told the press that he hopes to lower this time and break the 46.78 record of the US's Kevin Johnson.
Sanchez has said that he is proud of being Dominican and the DR's first Olympic gold medalist. "One's place of birth does not determine the love one can have for one's true people," he said.
Sanchez was then given the keys to the city from Santo Domingo's Mayor Roberto Salcedo, whereafter he partied with the masses of people along the Malecon. He will be decorated today by President Leonel Fernandez at the Presidential Palace.
To read an extensive interview with Felix, see
http://www.oyemag.com/felix.html
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