The dissenting voices this Tuesday in Parliament were reduced to a minimum. It was only the nationalists Sergio Botana and Juan Straneo who did not support the bill in the Senate. Botana, main detractor, inquired: “What is going to happen if Casa de Galicia’s final appeal is successful? Is the social register going to be returned?”. The answer is no, or highly unlikely to happen.
Article 6 of the approved law relaxes the requirements for the trustee who managed Casa de Galicia to request its liquidation. This allows the liquidation process to begin before the Court of Appeals is issued, which will have to analyze whether or not to reverse the sentence of Judge Leonardo Méndez, who on December 23 determined the cessation of activities.
“At the moment in which the cessation is decreed, The conditions were not in place to ensure basic healthcare for the users of Casa de Galicianone other than the Christmas holiday. I understood that leaving society operating in those circumstances was irresponsiblebecause if something happened that weekend the consequences were going to be much worse”, the judge had said in an interview with The Observer.
Once the law enters into force, the trustee will have the power to request that the liquidation begin. There, Judge Méndez must assess again if the measure is appropriate. But the truth is that the determination will be made on a mutual that will no longer have partners or officers, since the law indicates the relocation of both. Liquidation seems the only way out.
The workers and the leadership of Casa de Galicia had appealed Méndez’s initial decision to cease activities. He indicated that his decision was not subject to appeal, but later a fair appeals court ruled otherwise, reported The Observer. Now, a civil appellate court must rule on the merits of the matter. But, according to judicial sources, the file only entered last week and It will take at least a month to study the case.
By the time the court of appeals issues, the resolution will be meaningless, if the liquidation is ordered as provided by law, since the liquidation process will have already begun. So, the answer to Botana’s question about what will happen if Casa de Galicia’s final appeal is successful, the answer is nothing. Everything will follow the pre-established course.
In any case, if Méndez determines the liquidation, the measure is appealable. But it has a peculiarity: it does not have a suspensive effect. That is to say, while the court of appeals analyzes the origin, the assets of Casa de Galicia will be sold.
parliamentary debate
Under the shouts of members and officials of Casa de Galicia – who had to be evicted from the room, some of them with tears in their eyes – Parliament approved this Tuesday the bill for the redistribution of the members of the mutual company that was closed by the Justice for financial insolvency.
“Thanks for teasing us!“, was heard from the steps of the Chamber of Deputies at the moment in which the red representative Nibia Reisch explained the content of the proposal.
That and other cries – “this is how they are going to kill all the companies!”, “they are going to pay them!” – contributed a share of tension to the long day that outlined the future of the 45,000 members and the nearly 3,000 civil servants of the health house, with the vote first in the Senate and then in the Deputies.
The opposition sought to ensure that the working conditions of Casa de Galicia officials were maintained, as well as their salary floor. This last condition was not contemplated in the final document, but this did not affect the opposition vote.
During the discussion in the Senate, Botana said that the country should “make more of an effort to preserve this institution as it has done to preserve multiple private sector companies.”
In Deputies, Vega opposed it on the grounds that it was “a hasty decision.” The legislator affirmed that each bankrupt health institution should be fully absorbed by the state.
The nationalist senator Gustavo Penadés stressed that the drafting of this project achieved “a political consensus.”
In the lower house, the nationalist deputy Eduardo Lorenzo also recalled that other mutual societies in the country “have their trusts”, but affirmed that the case of Casa de Galicia “It is opening the eyes” of society so that this does not happen again in other institutions. Luis Gallo, a Frente Amplio deputy, pointed out that the treatment was not rushed and said that the workers “cannot wait two months for a solution.” In this sense, he celebrated the agreement reached by the Broad Front with the rest of the legislators to write this project since “today in Casa de Galicia the quality of care is poor”.
