The blocs of deputies from the parties of the Dominican Liberation (PLD) and the People’s Force (FP) fear that the government could give a possible political use to the declaration of emergency approved yesterday in the Chamber of Deputies and said they do not understand why They included Santo Domingo and Santiago, if Hurricane Fiona did not damage these cities.
Juan Julio Campos and Omar Fernandez, PLD and FP spokesmen, respectively, in the Lower House, agreed that legislators must now become supervisors so that the resources are really used for the purposes that have been said.
Opposition legislators wondered why Santo Domingo and Santiago were included in the declaration, if at first it was essentially the eastern provinces and other provinces such as Samaná and Duarte.
On his side, the spokesman for the Broad Front bloc of deputies, Juan Dionicio Rodríguez Restituyo, recalled that the declaration of emergency is not an open letter so that the government can spend without justification.
While the independent Senator Antonio Marte considered that when the resolution is known in the Upper House it should go to a study commission.
Campos, a deputy for Altagracia, said that “we, as PLD spokesperson and representative of the most affected province, which was La Altagracia, asked ourselves why they were including other provinces apart from those in the East, what are the statistics of the damage they suffered” .
He added that “we even understood that the project should go to a commission, even if it was until today and we thought it was going to go to a commission, since there are several provinces that should not have been there.”
“So we understand that not all the provinces were affected in such a way that they were included in the State of Emergency, there are the eastern provinces, Samaná and the María Trinidad Sánchez province itself, there are other provinces that I understand should not have been included,” Campos said when asked if he feared that the emergency declaration would be put to political use.
He added that “because in principle there were 8 provinces, they included the province, Duarte, La Vega, Santiago and Santo Domingo, and some deputies from the province of Santo Domingo also wondered that.”
Campos reported that in his province of La Altagracia, most of the sectors do not have electricity or water, ten days after the cyclone, in addition to the fact that thousands of homes still do not have roofs.
Omar Fernandez
On his side, Fernández said he hoped that the management of the aid that should go to the families affected by Hurricane Fiona in the eastern region of the country will not be given political use.
“With the passing of days we will see if the purposes are to help people or if it was for other purposes, which we sincerely hope that this declaration of emergency addresses the real problems that are affecting Dominicans as a result of Fiona’s passage and not that it be used for a possible political and partisan use of these aids in these provinces”, he considered.
Rodriguez Restored
While the spokesman for the Frente Amplio bloc of deputies, Rodríguez Restituyo, reminded the authorities that the declaration of an emergency that will imply spending more than RD$20 billion is not an authorization to spend without justification.
He said he hopes that the resources that will be allocated to help the affected families will be used transparently, in accordance with what Abinader has maintained so far.
“The declaration of emergency within the state of exception is not an open letter so that the State can spend without justifying it, and due to the transparent attitude that the current president has, he will be able to act in that sense and it is a good opportunity that Congress will have to control ”.
