President Leonel Fernandez is maintaining his optimism and stated that there is "national and international good will that points in that direction." The Chief Executive headed the launch of the Presidential Commission on the Objectives of the Millennium and Sustainable Development. The President was confident that the country was working to reach each of the goals as set out by the United Nations and which are supposed to be fulfilled by the year 2015. While admitting that he had inherited a country in crisis, Fernandez insisted that the work of the new commission would help overcome the problems. Commission president John Gagain Jr said that the Dominican Republic was the first country to establish any such commission to follow up on the Objectives for the Millennium. As reported in the Diario Libre, Fernandez also referred to the crisis at the inauguration of the MFI Products factory and pointed out how the geographical position, the young labor force and government encouragement to industry would help to solve the current crisis.
The Dominican government has paid US$77.8 million dollars since August to the companies that generate electricity for the Dominican Republic. Finance Minister Vicente Bengoa revealed that the government has paid US$14 million to the generators via the CDEEE. Haina, Itabo, Union Fenosa, Smith-Enron and other entities also received parts of the total amount. According to Hoy and El Caribe, the debt to the generators exceeds US$150 million. Bengoa characterized the payment as part of Leonel Fernandez's "extraordinary efforts" to keep the country's electric system afloat.
The business community and the representatives of the various workers' syndicates agreed to a 30% increase for minimum wage earners and a 25% wage increase for those earning less than RD$20,001 per month. The other wage scales were not affected by the agreement, according to the Listin Diario, and any increase in the higher wage categories will be up to individual business owners. The decision will become official at 10am today during a meeting scheduled to be held at the National Committee on Salaries, and will enter into effect in 15 days, just as is provided for in the agreements. Eight hours of discussions were needed to round out the wage package that will affect minimum wage earners in the private sector. Finance Minister Vicente Bengoa told reporters that the increase would not be applied to the public sector because such a move would violate Article 115 of the Constitution and because the 2004 Budget law does not allow for such an increase. CONEP, the Employers' Confederation and the Industrial Association on the one hand, and the Council for Union Solidarity on the other, agreed that this pact sets a definite precedent, as salaries other than the minimum wage were taken into consideration for the first time. The Confederation of Small and Medium Businesses has requested that the wage increase be implemented in two stages within those business sectors. The agreement was reached after the unionists came down from their original 60% wage increase position and the employers consented to consider wage increases for salaried or hourly personnel earning as much as RD$20,000 per month. With the new increase, an employee currently making a salary of RD$15,000 will now take home RD$19,500.
According to Hoy's economic editor Mario Mendez, subsidized propane gas is being diverted to industrial consumers, a breach of the new system that represents a RD$100-million loss in tax revenues for the government. Mendez writes that, according to sources, this "waylaying" of subsidized propane provides huge earnings for the gas wholesalers. The sources also informed him that in September the various purveyors of propane distributed 22,468,331 gallons of the gas, but just 11.64% was reported to have been sent to industrial users. Mendez says that industrial use of propane is significantly higher, while Aristedes Fernandez Zucco said that industrial consumption represents about 20% of the market and yet others believe the figure to be closer to 30% of the market. If the true industrial consumption of propane were 20%, the illegal earnings of the distributors and the subsequent the loss to the government treasury would stand at RD$56.3 million. This amount is arrived at by multiplying the price difference between the subsidized gas and non-subsidized gas (currently RD$30) by the 8.36% of gas that is diverted to the industrial sector but attributed to have been sold in the domestic sector, (1,878,352 gallons). If the true consumption figure were to be closer to 30% of the market, then the illegal earnings and the tax evasion would ascend to RD$123.7 million. It is interesting to note that the Dominican Refinery says that they dispatched only 3.57% of propane to industrial users and Mundogas sent out only 6.39%, but Coastal sent out 22.98% to industrial users.
The business community is fighting the proposed Consumer Protection Law tooth and nail, according to El Caribe, and the various business groups have suggested more than 30 changes to the legislation. All of this comes after more than six years of languor at the bottom of the legislators' drawers, and after more than a year of talks with the different sectors of the Dominican economic scene. The Young Business Association (ANJE) and the CONEP organization as well as the Dominican Banking Association, have objected to the inclusion of taxes in the price of sale items, to the limitation of putting prices exclusively in Dominican pesos and the fact that the Pro Consumer unit will conduct cost studies on the basic necessities in order to determine the causes of the price fluctuations. Their arguments are based on free enterprise and free convertibility of the currency.
The United States will be sending the DR-CAFTA to its Congress following the 2 November elections. Juan Guilliani Cury, the vice-minister of foreign relations for economic affairs and commercial negotiations, feels there are several months left for the country to straighten out the issues relating to the 25% surtax to be levied on soft drinks using HFCS (High Fructose Corn Syrup, called syrup or corn syrup in the local press). Guilliani Cury feels that these months can be used to open a dialogue with the United States trade representatives and avoid the consequences defined by Robert Zoellick in his letter to the US Congress. Zoellick told the congressional leaders that he felt that if the Dominican Republic continued to uphold a 25% tax on imported HFCS, the country should be dropped from the FTA legislation. Guilliani pointed out that the DR is one of the United States' most important trading partners in the hemisphere, representing annual commerce of US$9 billion, and that a solution must be found to this issue. He urged Dominican legislators to act quickly.
The Department for the Prevention of Corruption (DEPRECO) reported yesterday that they were going to target the 110 deputies who have yet to file their sworn declarations of worth, in spite of being in office for more than two years. Octavio Lister Henriquez, the head of DEPRECO, told El Caribe reporters that so far only 40 of the deputies have fulfilled the legal requirements. Lister Henriquez said he would ask Alfredo Pacheco, the Chamber of Deputies president, to hold the wages of the tardy deputies. Over 600 members of the current administration have placed their sworn statements on file, but Lister says that more than 500 officials still have to get their paperwork in order. He also pointed out that a mere 74 members of the Mejia administration had fulfilled the requirements as set out in Law 82-79. The DEPRECO chief was kind to Mejia when he termed a quote made by the former President to a foreign journalist a "slip of the tongue." Mejia had told the journalist that his net worth was "three million dollars." In 2000, however, when Mejia took the executive office, he declared a net worth of RD$19.076 million and when he left office he stated his worth at RD$46.50 million. Lister complained that the Law 82-79 is not a simple legal formality, but rather "an instrument that helps determine a person's patrimony before and after taking office. Unfortunately, this law has not been enforced with the necessary vigor because there are more who do not fulfill the requirements than there are who do."
While it is certainly not news to many residents, it is something else to see that foreign entities such as International Transparency out of Berlin have classified the Dominican Republic as one of the most corrupt nations in Latin America, placing the DR at number 14 in the region and number 87 in the world. The DR lost 3.3 points on the 0-10 scale and is now ranked at 2.9, one of 60 countries with less than a 3.0 rating that signifies "endemic corruption." Each year the Berlin study group publishes its Index of Perceived Corruption (IPC), taking into consideration surveys conducted with business leaders, politicians, major institutions and analysts. This year's report included assessments from 18 surveys and 12 different institutions. With the latest ratings, the DR fell from 71 to 87 on the list of 145 nations studied.
The Superior Council of the National Police approved a motion to request the retirement of 107 police agents, including six colonels, as part of the ongoing reform of the police institution. According to the report in Hoy newspaper, these officers are being removed from service due to their age.
The council's resolution was signed by its president, Minister of the Interior & Police Franklin Almeyda, Police Chief and council director Major General Manuel de Jesus Perez Sanchez, Attorney General Francisco Dominguez Brito and other council members.
It was taken into account that the officers in question are subject to the age and length of service limits, as established in Article 96 of the Institutional Law of the National Police. Certain of the 107 officers have been with the force for 30 to 40 years and the colonels listed include Valentin Marquez Valdez, Angel Maria Rosario Terrero, Melchor Lara Morrillo, Carlos Feliz Suarez, Rafael Rodriguez Alburquerque and Francisco Regino Lantigua. The outgoing lieutenant colonels named were Jose Ambrosio Poche Mora, Fidel Cuevas Florian, Andres Abrahan Gomez Cabral and Ramon Martinez Reinoso. Also among the 107 to be retired are 8 majors, 22 captains, 25 first lieutenants, 18 second lieutenants and 23 second majors.
In a separate resolution, the council approved several new requirements for admission to the ranks of National Police. Resolution 016-04 establishes that new recruits must be high-school graduates and submitted to drug screening, psychological evaluations and competency and aptitude assessment for police work.
Promotions and advancement through the police ranks must follow certain criteria regarding age, conduct and academic achievement that are also established in the law.
The Boston Red Sox did something never seen done before. Led by Dominican power hitter David Ortiz, the Boston team, first, beat the Yankees in two straight games, then in three straight games, and finally in four straight games. Each step was history in the making. No team has ever come back from a 0-3 deficit to win a playoff series in the 100 plus years of professional baseball. Ortiz set the tone for last night's record-breaking 10-3 game when he hit a two-run homer in the first inning, giving pitcher Derek Lowe an important lead. A short time later, Johnny Damon, asleep for most of the series, gave the death blow with a grand slam home run. Ortiz was given the Most Valuable Player award for the American League Playoff Series. Ortiz has batted .387, scored three homeruns and provided 15 runs-batted-in in the series.
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