The Chamber of Deputies granted this Wednesday half sanction to the bill “That establishes the official time in the Republic of Paraguay”, with the intention of maintaining summer time during the twelve months of the year.
Deputy Sebastián García (PPQ-Capital), one of the designers of said regulations, explained that the dynamics and daily life of Paraguayans varied a lot, and that the change to summer time will allow greater use of sunlight.
“Since it gets dark earlier, the situation is taken advantage of by the criminals, to attack people who wait for groups when they leave their work, school, college, as well as those people who only go shopping at the supermarket, pantry or simply take a walk,” said deputy García.
He also mentioned that studies by the National Commission for Science and Technology (CONACYT) indicate that the highest crime rate is when it gets dark. “With this change, there will be a gap of one more hour of sunlight at the end of the day, to mobilize,” he indicated.
It is worth mentioning that the project also includes flexibility in the school schedule in the winter, so that students can enter later. In addition, the possibility for public schools to extend their schedules until completing the required workload was added.
In return, the deputy Edgar Espínola (ANR-Caaguazú), requested the rejection of the regulation, since he does not agree with “experiments” that could affect society.
“There are different perspectives in all sectors, both in the city and in rural areas,” said legislator Celso Kennedy (PLRA-Caaguazú).
Finally, the legislation was approved by a large majority, and it was sent to the Chamber of Senators for its next constitutional process.
It should be remembered that every year, in the months of April and October, the official Paraguayan time is changed, moving forward or backward, in order to adapt to a “supposed” better use of time and energy.
