Chamber of Deputies legislator Faride Raful questioned that despite record tax collections, the Medina administration continues to borrow heavily. The PLD-majority Chamber of Deputies approved an amendment that added another RD$190 billion to the 2019 National Budget to cover expenditures. She said the approval of the RD$190 billion was illegal, as reported in Diario Libre. She observed that last year the Medina administration pushed through congress a bill that added RD$175 billion in financing and this had been discussed by the Permanent Hacienda Commission of the Chamber of Deputies, but this year the RD$190 billion loan was fast-tracked and not sent to commission.
The PRM opposition party legislator, Faride Raful, nevertheless, questioned the use the government is giving to public revenues by central government officers given the need for heavy additional financing.
“We are people rich who cannot provide evidence of any formal work activity that account for their eyebrow raising wealth, and for this there is no penalty in this country,” she criticized.
The bill passed with 117 votes in favor and 42 opposed in its second reading. Raful said that the Chamber of Deputies serves “as toilet paper” for President Danilo Medina and the legislators receive orders from the President.
Radhames Camacho, a strong supporter of President Medina who is the president of the Chamber of Deputies replied to the accusation: “We do not have individual rights here because the Constitution does not give us a chance to play with the social responsibility of a leader who assumes a role in the government,” he said, following Deputy Raful’s turn.
26 December 2018
