2007 – Page 100

National Office for Administration and Personnel (ONAP) director, Ramon Ventura Camejo announced yesterday that with the help of the EU, Chilean and Spanish technical advisors and the Inter American Development Bank (IDB) they have been developing norms to regulate the salaries of high-ranking government officials, including the salary of the President. The announcement by ONAP …

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It is a common practice in the Senate for senators to sign for attending a commission meeting, and then not attend the meeting, Hoy reports. By signing, the senators accrue the RD$2,400 per meeting stipend. Environmental Commission head Ruben Dario Cruz (PLD-Hato Mayor) complained that many times he has a full list of attending senators …

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Kelvin Guerrero, member of the Coalition for Protected Areas, says that the recent statement by the Jorge Subero Isa on the need for a special court to manage environmental matters to confront depredators of the sector, is “ironic, disrespectful and mocks the intelligence of Dominicans.” Subero Isa proposed the new court during a FINJUS-organized conference …

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Central Electoral Board (JCE) president Julio Cesar Castanos Guzman has announced that the JCE judges have agreed in principal to the approval, with some modifications, of a campaign reform bill for the 2008 presidential elections. The JCE rejected the idea put forth by Judge Aura Celeste Fernandez that would have created a superstructure at the …

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Central Electoral Board (JCE) Judge Aura Celeste Fernandez says that the internal rules of the JCE are illegal and added that the Administrative Chamber has overstepped its authority. The Judge explains that JCE rules establish a budget for each chamber of the JCE and that the budget of the Administrative Chamber will be managed autonomously …

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Though the idea to build a heliport at the Plaza Omar Torrijos on the Malecon near where Abraham Lincoln Ave starts has been rejected, Santo Domingo Mayor Roberto Salcedo says that the heliport project is not dead. He says they are considering a location in front of Metaldom. Salcedo explained that the Plaza Torrijo was …

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El Salvador Vice President Ana Vilma Albanez de Escobar said yesterday that job creation is the most effective social investment a government can make to fight poverty. The Vice President spoke yesterday at the American Chamber of Commerce monthly luncheon. During her talk, she recommended the DR adopt development strategies that have worked well in …

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Free zones in the DR have taken on the challenge of globalization and are evolving from the days when manufacturing men’s pants were the main export, according to the National Council of Export Free Zones, as reported in the Listin Diario. DR free zone industries today manufacture plastic bags, medical components, aviation components, mannequins and …

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A DR-related Canadian police announced the bust of what is being described as an international cocaine smuggling operation that saw drugs brought to Canada on commercial flights into Pearson International Airport, while money flowed back to the Dominican Republic by conspirators posing as tourists, and airport baggage handlers in both countries acted as accomplices. The …

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Gregorio Martinez Cuevas has been sentenced to 30 years in jail and forced to pay RD$5 million in damages who had been charged with cutting of the hands of his former girlfriend Dolphy Angelina Gonzalez Valdez. The verdict had been rendered in May, but an appeal was filed though judges upheld the original sentence.