Constitutional Court president, Milton Ray Guevara urges Congress pass a bill regarding property purchases in the border area with Haiti. He said the Dominican Constitution states that only Dominicans can buy land on the border area but a complementary bill needs to be passed to implement the constitutional mandate. He spoke during an interview for El Caribe and CDN.
Magistrate Ray Guevara said it is inconceivable that 12 years after the 2010 Constitution was approved, more than 90 complementary bills are still pending approval. “Those bills are essential because they are the ones that increase the claws of the Constitution. The Constitution needs claws,” he commented.
“What are we waiting for that bill; what is going to happen the day we discover that the entire border area is owned by foreigners, whoever, who may have acquired it in good faith, but that for Dominican purposes, the border area needs to be owned by Dominicans,” warned Ray Guevara regarding the border land purchase legislation that is pending.
He lobbied for Congress to pass the complementary bill for the pardon law. “The pardon bill does not clash with anyone, we have many prisoners in very precarious conditions, but Congress has yet to move on this bill,” he observed.
He urged Congress to pass the referendum bill that the Executive Branch sent to Congress. He argued that this bill is fundamental because it guarantees participative democracy and considered that issues of debate such as abortion can be decided in a referendum.
He highlighted the contributions made to promote the approval of these initiatives by the current president of the Chamber of Deputies, Alfredo Pacheco and that Rubén Maldonado did the same before Pacheco. He maintained that the latter formed a commission headed by Rafael Alburquerque to discuss 15 complementary bills.
“But in the prioritized legislative agenda of the present legislation, these are not included,” he said. He blasted that the political parties do not seem interested in approving the bills.
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El Caribe
3 November 2022