According to documents available on the website of the Chamber of Deputies, the entity spent G. 516 million in travel expenses during 68 trips. A total of 31 deputies benefited from this situation, of which three legislators traveled the most.
Pastor Soria, an official Colorado deputy, is the member of the Lower House who has received the most travel allowances from 2019 to date. In total, he has traveled six times; Panama, Curacao, Brazil, Scotland, Italy and Spain were his destinations. The amount received as travel expenses was; G. 49 million.
In second place is the Liberal Llanista; Edgar Ortiz. The legislator traveled a total of five times; all to Panama. The amount received as travel expenses was; G. 30 million.
In third place is the also liberal Llanista Hugo Capurro. He himself made three trips; Panama City, Buenos Aires, Argentina and Frankfurt, Germany. The amount he received was G. 30 million.
In fourth place is Eusebio Alvarenga (bench “D”). The legislator made four trips; all to Panama City. The amount received as travel expenses was G. 28 million.
In fifth place, appears Roya Torres, Liberal deputy, belonging to the bench “C”, whose leader is former senator Dionisio Amarilla. It received G. 24 million for three trips; Curacao (twice) and San José, Costa Rica.
The next five are; Carlos Sebastián García (Katowice, Poland, Berlin, Germany, Tallinn, Estonia and Madrid, Spain), Fernando Oreggioni (Munich, Germany and Malaga, Spain), Enrique Mineur; (Seoul, Korea and Panama City), Pastor Vera Bejarano (Seoul, Korea, Cartagena de Indias, Colombia and Rio de Janeiro, Brazil) and Hugo Ibarra; (La Paz, Bolivia and Rabat, Morocco).
BENCHES
Regarding the calculation by benches, the one that received the most resources in terms of travel expenses was the PLRA. The Liberals added their five benches (A, B, C, D and L) received G. 268 million, divided between 16 legislators and 35 trips.
The ANR was in second place with G. 193 million. The official party of the ANR received G. 118 million. They are divided between seven legislators and 14 trips.
It is followed by the bench of the Chartist ANR (Honor Colorado) with G. 76 million, distributed among seven deputies and 10 trips.
As for the third space, the only legislator who made trips was Carlos Sebastián García of the Patria Querida party. He spent on his three trips the sum of G. 22.5 million.
TRAVELS
Regarding trips, Panama City was the main destination with 21 trips made to the place. San José, Costa Rica and Buenos Aires, Argentina, were the next two most visited points with 6 and 5 visits respectively.
REASONS
Some of the trips of the legislators were related to the meeting of commissions and the board of directors of Parlatino. It takes place in Panama. Only in February of this year there were four legislators; Edgar Ortiz, Hugo Capurro, Miguel Tadeo Rojas and Eusebio Alvarenga. Each legislator receives a travel allowance of G. 9.2 million each time he travels to said meeting. They usually last about 3 days. A striking trip occurred in November last year. On that occasion, Pastor Soria received a travel allowance of more than G. 17 million to participate in the XXVI United Nations Conference on climate change. It took place in Glasgow, Scotland and lasted six days. Interestingly, the legislator never provided statements on what was discussed in the meeting or the points that should be implemented in our country to collaborate in mitigating the environmental scourge.
