2008 – Page 337

Amidst challenges of impropriety and fraudulent NGOs, President Leonel Fernandez signed the 2008 Budget and Law for Public Spending, officially making it law. The total budget is for RD$300 billion. Senate president Reinaldo Pared Perez (PLD-National District) challenged Chamber of Deputies president Julio Cesar Valentin’s (PLD-National District) claims that funds for ruling party senators’ and …

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Santiago city councilors are following in the footsteps of San Cristobal city councilors and are arguing for pay raises claiming that the RD$44,000 they receive in per diems per month is an embarrassment. Hoy writes that councilors aspire to have their monthly per-diems raised to RD$90,000 and that these be converted to salaries as is …

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President Leonel Fernandez, assuming his role as PLD party president, ordered that the municipal councilor pay raises be revoked. President Fernandez presided a meeting of the political commission that announced that party members that violate the disposition could be expelled from the party. The raises caused a public stir earlier last week, when the mayor …

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The special commission appointed by the Executive Branch has yet to find a company meeting their requirements to appraise the 50% Shell stake in Dominican Petroleum Refinery (Refidomsa). Hacienda Minster Vicente Bengoa said that none of the 12 companies that bid to carry out the appraisal met all requirements. In addition to Bengoa, other members …

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The Ministry of Environment and seven other state ministries have signed a memorandum providing rules for the upcoming whale watching season that starts next Tuesday, 15 January and ends in March in Samana. The Ministry of Tourism, the Navy, the Samana Bay Boat Owners Association, the Center for Conservation and Eco-development for Samana Bay, the …

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Central Electoral Board judge Aura Celeste Fernandez is getting some heat after her husband Guillermo Moreno accepted the Movimiento Unidad y Cambio’s (MIUCA) presidential candidacy for the 2008 election. Listin Diario says that fellow JCE judge Eddy Olivares commented that Fernandez had his full support and that she shouldn’t resign. Administrative Chamber judge Roberto Rosario …

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President Leonel Fernandez officially declared 2008 as the Year of Health. The event took place at the Presidential Palace with the participation of Health Minister Bautista Rojas Gomez, Education Minister Alejandrina German, president of the Dominican Medical College Waldo Ariel Suero and Pan American Health Organization (OPS) country representative Ana Cristina Nogueira. Nogueira said that …

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Interior and Police Minister Franklin Almeyda Rancier is asking Tourism Minister Felix Jimenez to submit in writing the classification of the Hotel Hispaniola. Almeyda would like to know it if a 3, 4 or 5 star hotel. The request comes after competing businesses disputed that Led nightclub at the hotel was allowed to stay open …

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The recently signed Economic Partnership Agreement between Cariforum (15 ACP Caribbean countries + Dominican Republic) and the European Union will help regulate the bilateral trade between the DR and Haiti. With the EPA, a free trade will not be necessary between the DR and Haiti, according to Cariforum secretary general Willy Ramirez. Ramirez, who is …

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Beginning Saturday gasoline prices will be RD$2 and RD$3 less for regular and premium gasoline, according to the Ministry of Industry and Commerce. Minister Melanio Paredes said the drop would be a relief for the public that has suffered continuous weeks of increasing fuel prices.