Last week, Jose Francisco Peña Gómez met the students of the Colegio del Apostolado, a renowned girl’s school in Santo Domingo. He arrived at the school accompanied by José Antonio Najri and Hugo Tolentino Dipo. He was received by a committee made up of Milagros Ortiz Bosch, Johnny Ventura, Ivelisse Prats, Franklin Franco, Federico Ginebra, Marino Mendoza, Dionisio Soldevilla and others, accompanied by the director of the school, Aurea Fuentes, and the president of the Parents’ Association, Lic. Marcos Reyes Mora. One of the pupils, Patricia De Camps, introduced the presidential candidate who then answered the children’s questions.
He addressed issues such as the ailing system of justice, criticizing the fact that a person who has stolen a chicken may spend eight years in prison, and that Salvador Jorge Blanco has spent 10 years confined to his house. He said that innocent or not, Jorge Blanco has been 10 years in jail at home and a sentence should have been passed by now, but to keep him in suspense is both unjust and cruel. He said the incompetence of the state, means that justice is administered late and one has to win a lottery for the file of a detained person to be sent to the courts.
He said that in a government under his control anyone who defrauds the state, such as in the case of HydroQuebec and the CDE, or who sells an aircraft such as the “Jordano” jet of Dominicana Airlines, will have to answer to the court. He also said that if he wins the election, the legal processes pending against PRD people will be resolved.
He showed himself to be fervently religious and said he would not permit legislation to legalize abortion.