Hoy newspaper’s page two column denounces the implementation of two programs very similar to the PEME that is under investigation for charges of corruption during the past administration. The newspaper’s sources say that the new PRD government programs are handing out money to youths in slum areas and the provinces to neutralize the unemployed from participating in protests against the government. The report indicates that some that are registering for the program are receiving arms with legal permits. The DR has been shaken by price increases as hadn’t been seen in the past five years. The present government hasn’t yet been affected by a first strike. The PRD government has criticized the PEME programs for serving to enrich a few and promote the political aspirations of others. Hoy newspaper suggests that the government investigate these new programs that are usually started covertly. Hoy says that the problem can be traced back to the old practice of seeing in the state a godfather for the benefitting of individual citizens. "The state has an obligation with the collectivity, not with a person or a group of persons in particular," writes the newspaper. "Local politicians, both from the government and from the opposition, have accustomed their followers to receiving gifts, which has turned politics into a business, a way of life," says the Page Two columnist in his request that the practice of creating parasites be put to a halt.
