The Customs Department has intensified its efforts to uncover major tax evasion in the previous government.
Customs has sent inspectors to six companies that the Listin Diario says the government has fingered for bilking the system of RD$20 million. The scheme regards companies who were taking advantage of the irregular application of Law 28-01, which authorizes generous tax exemptions to companies manufacturing in the provinces that lie along the border with Haiti. Customs officials said that these companies, using certificates of operation granted them under Law 28-01, had imported parts of various electronic appliances that were assembled and sold locally.
Customs Director Miguel Cocco says that from 2000 to 2004, import tax evasion represented more than RD$100 billion, but that he hoped to recover RD$50 billion in the next two years. He reported the recent recovery of RD$400 million stemming from 23 companies that have been scrutinized. Cocco also said his department has recouped a further RD$125 million for illegal tax exemptions made on vehicles granted during the past government.
President Leonel Fernandez openly expressed his support of the Customs Department's efforts to increase government revenues.
The Ministry of Labor has released the official holiday calendar for 2005. Certain celebrations will be shifted to the Monday closest to their date, making for several long weekends.
See http://dr1.com/travel/prepare/holidays_2005.shtml
The Ministry of Public Health is implementing a nationwide vaccination program, with plans to immunize half a million children, ages 5 to 10, against the measles. Another 58,261 students will receive the "pentavalente" vaccine that protects against the five major childhood infectious diseases, diphtheria, tetanus, whooping cough, hepatitis B and haemophilus influenza type B (HIB). The campaign will last one month, beginning in October, as reported in Diario Libre. The Ministry of Public Health is undertaking the vaccination program to reduce the estimated 15-20% of Dominican school children whose parents have not followed the prescribed course of immunizations.
The Central Electoral Board (JCE) has put in a request for RD$747.2 million for the organization of the political parties' primaries, as reported in Hoy newspaper. This amount has risen from the original RD$487.2 million originally requested. Both amounts, however, are being viewed as outrageous, given the current economic difficulties in the DR.
The PRD-majority Congress modified the electoral law in 2004 in order to delegate the costs and responsibility of organizing the primaries to the JCE. The bill has yet to be contested in the Supreme Court, however.
Prior to the implementation of the political primaries provision, already taxpayers were obliged to fit the bill for the hosting of the political campaigns of parties participating in the municipal, congressional and presidential elections.
The JCE has requested an overall budget for 2005 of RD$2.7 billion.
President Leonel Fernandez has appointed eight new ambassadors. These are Hector Galvan, Korea; Pablo Arturo Marinez Alvarez, Mexico; Teresita Migdalia Torres Garcia, Guatemala; Alejandro Gonzalez Pons, Spain; Victor Manuel Sanchez Pena, Taiwan; Nestor Juan Ceron Suero, Ecuador and Rafael Antonio Julian Cedano, Uruguay.
Poverty in the Dominican Republic increased significantly from 2002-2004. Niki Fabiancic, the resident coordinator for the United Nations Development Program in the Dominican Republic, said that those going hungry in the Dominican Republic account for 25% of the population, as reported in the Listin Diario. This information is part of a study carried out by the United Nations Fund for Agriculture (FAO) that will be presented at the UN's General Assembly next year. Fabiancic said that the evaluation shows the DR is behind schedule in achieving the National Millennium Objectives by 2015. As an example of the DR's shortcomings, he pointed to the fact that maternal mortality in the DR is above the Latin American average and the high rate of teenage pregnancies recorded. Other major social challenges ahead include improving the quality of the educational system and reducing the school drop-out rate. Fabiancic said the study also demonstrated that during the 90s the DR sustained satisfactory economic growth. While this growth declined from 2000-2004, Fabiancic expressed his expectation that growth would resume, this time with a more equitable distribution of wealth.
For more information on the Objectives of the Millennium, see http://www.onu.org.do
Two-way traffic is flowing normally through Chavon after a temporary bridge was erected earlier this month. Engineer Alberto Pagan, who has overseen the building of the bridge, said that the structure has the capacity to carry any type of vehicle and that it may remain open on a permanent basis. According to Pagan, once the original structure has been rebuilt (by December or January), the authorities may decide to dedicate each of the bridges to one-way direction traffic. Pagan maintained that the new structure would withstand the sort of river swelling that toppled the original bridge.
The Ministry of Public Works announced that it has restored the bridge on the main route that connects Nagua and San Francisco de Macoris by way of El Factor. Tropical Storm Jeanne damaged the bridge, necessitating the construction of a temporary structure. A permanent solution is expected to be ready by January. The Ministry of Public Works had reconditioned the El Pozo detour road in the meantime. For those headed to Samana via San Francisco de Macoris, however, the El Pozo route is the more practical of the two.
True to its word, the Metropolitan Transport Authority (AMET) began cracking down on vehicles with tinted front windows last weekend. On 8 October, the traffic police had given all drivers 15 days to have these features removed. While AMET has started taking these shady drivers to task, as pointed out in El Caribe today, the National District's Traffic Court is dismissing the cases on grounds that they have not violated traffic legislation (Law 241). The law does indicate that no vehicle should use any material that obscures any of its windows and establishes fines of no less than RD$5, but no more than RD$50 for the infringement.
The National District's Court of Appeals has repealed a judge's order that had confined certain ex-police officers to their residential areas for the duration of the investigation into the illicit distribution of recovered stolen vehicles, as reported in Hoy. The order of Judge Daira Medina also impeded the officers from leaving the country, a decision that was similarly overturned by the Court of Appeals.
Bishop Nicanor Pena rushed home from a trip to the United States to address the newest scandal involving the girls' orphanage La Ciudad de los Ninos San Francisco Javier, which operates under the World Solidarity Missions and the Roman Catholic Church Diocese of La Altagracia.
The scandal revolves around 13 minors who were allegedly raped while in the orphanage's care. In 2002, similar accusations came forth regarding nine other children. El Caribe newspaper reports that, despite the children having identified the offenders, none of them has been investigated. The newspaper carries a statement made by the district attorney, who commented: "If we arrest all those mentioned, we would have to bring in half of Yuma," referring to the municipality in the province of La Altagracia.
One of the differences between the 2002 case and that which has surfaced most recently is that the first time around the victims did not name their assailants.
El Caribe reports that the silence surrounding the case is due to the orphanage being under the Church. One of the lawyers defending one of those accused categorically refused to speak to an El Caribe reporter on the grounds that the case is a very delicate one.
The scandal came out into the open after Deacon Rigoberto de Jesus Padial, the orphanage's founder, lodged a complaint with the police on 1 March 2004. Bishop Nicanor Pena has announced a press conference for tomorrow.
Expect traffic to come to a full stop in Santo Domingo tonight at around 8pm, when the Major League Baseball championship teams meet for Game 3 at St Louis's Busch Stadium. Dominican Pedro Martinez will pitch for the Boston Red Sox against former teammate Jeff Suppan, who had been on Boston's roster for last year's American League championship series. Boston, the only team in MLB history to come from behind to make the playoffs, is leading the series 2-0.
See http://www.mlb.com
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