Miguelina Brítez, widow of Martin, is a 65-year-old woman who, according to her and her daughter María Helena Brítez, worked as domestic workers in the house of the family of the cleaning provider of the Social Security Institute (IPS), a friend of the Vice President, Alberto “Octopus” Palumbo; however, she appears on the payroll of personnel in the tender that was awarded to the employer in the pension.
As well as Mrs. Miguelina, there are several teachers from the Ministry of Education and Sciences (MEC), public officials, retirees, who appear as “mau” cleaners on the payroll submitted by the suppliers awarded to Public Contracting in the cleaning tender for G. 73,364 million May of last year.
To these are added dozens of supplier employees with less than 9 months of contributions in the IPS, which is the validity period of the cleaning contract signed between the contractors Alberto Palumbo, Poti SA and Cevima SA and the pension. In theory, there should be strict compliance with labor and social security regulations, fully controlled by the convening entity, but this compliance is not reflected in the insured’s portal. (See infographic).
Nearly 1,500 cleaners had committed themselves to the aforementioned cleaning tender, of which a battalion of 477 Alberto Palumbo employees are assigned to the IPS Central Hospital, but the identity and coverage areas of these, which we requested via the Transparency Law , were rejected by the pension.
We resorted to the National Directorate of Public Procurement (DNCP), which provided us with what they call the Personnel Identification Form (FIP) and which led us to several names that have nothing to do with the service awarded or the contracting companies.
An engineering that operates in reserve and that uses a staff to bill millions, avoiding legal labor responsibilities, suggests the number of “mau” employees presented by suppliers to the DNCP.
Doña Miguelina, the cook at the Palumbo house, says that she never worked as a cleaner for his company; however, her name was presented as part of the IPS cleaning staff before the DNCP.
“I worked for a time at his home, not in the cleaning company, but with Alberto Palumbo’s son. Somewhere around 4 years ago,” the 65-year-old woman told us in a telephone conversation, who also commented that she suffered from age-related problems that prevent her from doing this task, in addition to the fact that she is a beneficiary of the Ñapu’ãke social program of the Office of the First Lady of the Nation. The lady transferred the communication to her daughter María Helena Brítez, who clearly told about the housework in the family home.
“I worked as a cleaner in the house of Don Jorge Palumbo, who is Alberto’s son, the one who owns the construction company. She was a cook and a housekeeper and I was the cleaner in Don Jorge’s house and my husband was the guard in Don Alberto’s house,” said Doña Miguelina’s daughter. She maintained that her mother even traveled abroad years ago with the Palumbo family in her role as housekeeper.
Name of Mrs. Miguelina Brítez, who is dedicated to the garden of her house, but they present her as cleaning staff of the IPS.
Mathematics teacher Arnaldo Sosa Gómez, on the list of cleaners of the “Octopus” Palumbo.
The woman fully identifies the supplier’s family and even described the times when Vice President Hugo Velázquez had an office in the contractor’s home. “We work together, when my mother started to work I entered as a cleaner in the house of Don Jorge, who is the youngest son of Don Alberto, because my husband was Don Alberto’s guard, he even received a blow from Don Alberto and It was there that she threw my husband out, ”said María Helena.
The name of Arnaldo Sosa Gómez, a Mathematics teacher from the Ministry of Education and Sciences (MEC) of Basic School 3,225 in the Kurusu de Hierro area, with 95 months of teaching experience, was also used to add the list of cleaners in the IPS. His identity appears on the payroll of the Poti company of businessman Alberto Palumbo.
We consulted the teacher about this situation and indignantly he questioned the use of his identity within the payroll of a private company to invoice the IPS. “Imagine a little, a person using my identity and supposedly I am an official of that company, right. I have nothing, I have no contact with that company. I suddenly hear because I know that you work with the Ministry of Health, but I don’t know anyone from that company. I am an official of the Ministry of Education and I am teaching, right now I am in my institution, here in Kurusu de Hierro”, said the teacher.
Another name used as a “mau” cleaner is that of Professor Gloria Raquel Maciel, a teacher at Colegio República Argentina in the city of Encarnación, who also said she had no employment relationship with Palumbo companies; however, she appears on Poti’s payroll. The teacher responded jokingly; “I clean my school, my house, my grade. But no, never with remuneration”.
We also spoke with Mrs. Cristi Colman Martínez, who appears as a cleaner at Alberto Palumbo’s company, but in reality she is a nurse who works at the IPS and at the Ministry of Public Health and Social Welfare. She stated that she was in Mr. Palumbo’s company between 2012/2013, but since then she has no employment ties with him.
“2012, 2013 around that time was what I worked there, I don’t remember exactly, but later I left and I didn’t give it any more importance,” the nurse commented.
There is a long list of similar cases, it is noteworthy that this list has been submitted to the DNCP and that the IPS has not claimed the repeated names, has not noticed the teachers who appear on campus, as well as employees with other employers and public officials. The Specifications of Bases and Conditions is conclusive in that the social security must carry out a routine control of the records of dialing, assistance and distribution of the personnel of the suppliers through its department of general services and cleaning section.
Palumbo’s duo in the IPS tenders, Cevima, also appears with employees with fewer contributions to the validity of their contract with the pension. The names of people who retired more than five years ago appear on his payroll, such as the case of Mr. Olegario Alcaraz Valiente, a 65-year-old man who appears with 60 months of contributions as an IPS retiree.
