The Senate approved on Monday, 6 April to extend the State of Emergency through 8 May. 20 of 22 senators present signed a 25-day extension for the State of Emergency for the Medina administration. This would bring it to 8 May 2020.
Two opposition senators representing the Modern Revolutionary Party (PRM) abstained from voting. Senator Jose Ignacio Paliza (PRM-Puerto Plata) had requested that the extension be for 16 days, through 30 April instead of 8 May. He requested that the government comply with the requirement of submitting to a bi-chamber committee information on procurement for the emergency situation before the purchase order is placed and after the supplier is chosen.
Likewise, Senator Paliza proposed that the Dominican representative to Transparency International, the civic watchdog organization, Citizen Participation, be included in the oversight committee for government procurement. This motion received the backing of only seven of 22 senators. The ruling Dominican Liberation Party (PLD) is majority in the Senate. Contracting approved by the National Health Service (SNS) has been widely criticized for overpricing.
The motion for extending the state of emergency would have passed to the Chamber of Deputies for approval on Tuesday, 7 April. Yet on Sunday, the president of the Chamber of Deputies, Radhamés Camacho (PLD-Santo Domingo) canceled the session. On Monday afternoon, it was known that Camacho had tested positive with the coronavirus. There is no date for the Chamber of Deputies session. The present emergency state was declared effective 19 March and will expire on 13 April 2020.
Second in command at the Chamber of Deputies is Angela Pozo, also of the ruling PLD. Pozo is running for senator for the province of Valverde. She usually sits beside Camacho during the sessions. She recently said that her daughter had tested positive for the virus. She has not said whether she, too, is infected, as reported in Listin Diario.
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Listin Diario
7 April 2020