2004 – Page 38

The much-read “Que se dice” column reports today on the hectic schedule that public school teachers manage as part of a justification of the report just released that showed most teachers work just shy of 15 hours a week. The columnist says that a source very close to public education sent her the union itinerary …

Read more…

An absurd quest is what the editorialist calls the efforts of Dominican Medical College president Waldo Ariel Suero, after President Leonel Fernandez classified the doctors as ordinary citizens who would have to wait their turn for a salary increase. The push being made for more work stoppage at the hospitals is also ridiculous because they …

Read more…

Sedimentation in the Ozama River is threatening the success of the cruise ship season that has just gotten underway. The imminent arrival of the Royal Caribbean Empress of the Seas cruise ship filled with tourists on 16 November has caused the local officialdom to take action, however. The first day’s cleanup activities brought up 300 …

Read more…

President Leonel Fernandez said yesterday that he was looking for an inflation rate of just a single digit for 2005, and called this “the best news I can give the Dominican people.” He said this means that prices have to come down. At the same time he pointed out that during the first months of …

Read more…

President Fernandez warned that doctors would not get a salary increase all by themselves. The President emphasized: “I believe that the doctors do not represent a privileged class; they are in the same condition as the rest of the country.” He asked that the physicians remain patient and guaranteed that there would be a general …

Read more…

The 30% increase in wages that is currently seeking approval in Congress will consume approximately RD$8 billion of the 2005 budget. According to the report in Diario Libre, the pay hike will be effected in two phases, the first with a 20% increase and a subsequent 10% increase. During the first nine months of 2004 …

Read more…

The IMF representative in the Dominican Republic, Ousmane J. Mandeng, visited the Congress halls yesterday to talk about his organization’s interest in the 2005 budget. The approval of an IMF-approved budget is one of the first steps to obtaining a renewal of the Stand By Agreement with the international financial institution. Senate president Andres Bautista …

Read more…

Dominican ambassador to the United States Hugo Guiliani Cury favors establishing diplomatic relations with all of the Asiatic nations, including China. He said that the DR “must diversify because we have been too close to the United States.” Nonetheless, Guiliani, who has finished his mission in the United States, said that it will be difficult …

Read more…

The government will pay the electric generators another US$17 million this week, bringing the total to US$107 million over the past few months. The Listin Diario reports that Finance Minister Vicente Bengoa announced the new payment yesterday before leaving on an official trip to Costa Rica along with Central Bank Governor Hector Valdez Albizu. In …

Read more…

Once again, Monsignor Agripino Nunez Collado has been called on to mediate a crisis, this time between the local municipalities and the Ministry of the Interior and Police. In answer to a request from the Dominican Federation of Municipalities, Monsignor Nunez will try and sort out the issues surrounding the heavy equipment issue and the …

Read more…