The president of the Senate, Eduardo Estrella explained several of the initiatives undertaken or to be undertaken by the Senate. He highlighted how it has been a very productive year. The president of the Senate is elected for a year term and can be reelected. Many senators seek to replace Estrella. Estrella represents Dominicanos por el Cambio, a minority party that backed Luis Abinader for President.
Estrella promised that when the Penal Code is received in the Senate it will be subject to exhaustive review. He mentioned that a top priority is to amend the discrimination for gender slipped into the revision at the last minute.
“There are things that are in the Code that were modified at the end, such as the discrimination on gender. I do not agree with that. Each person has the right to make a decision. I am telling you that I understand that the Code must be modified, and that will be part of our exhaustive review,” he told the El Caribe-CDN media group during an interview.
Estrella said he is pro-life, meaning that he does not back the inclusion of exceptions to abortion in the Penal Code.
He said the Penal Code has more than 400 articles and it is the responsibility of the Senate to review these. Nevertheless, he said there are no perfect laws and legislators need to exercise the art of passing what is possible. “Sometimes we seek perfection, what I want, what I understand, but Congress has to find a balance. The country cannot stop. It needs to continue to move forward,” he said.
Estrella says that tops on the Senate agenda aside from the Penal Code is the revision of laws such as the Social Security, the Labor Code and the bill that creates the Ministry of Housing. He says the Labor Code needs to be adapted to the new times, including regulating remote working.
He wants the stagnating of bills in the Senate for more than ten years in Congress to be left behind.
Elections in the Senate are due for the legislature that starts on 16 August 2021.
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El Caribe
8 July 2021