Judith Pena | April 4, 2023
After last Friday, President Laurentino Cortizo, sanctioned Law 376, which modifies articles of Law 37 of 2009 that decentralizes the public administration and that allows officials who run for a position of popular election for mayor or representative to choose the better salary, the lawyer Roberto Ruiz Díaz filed a claim of unconstitutionality against this regulation.
Ruiz Díaz said that this Law violates article 302 of the constitution, which establishes that in order to collect a salary you must perform the functions personally in order to receive the salary that the State is paying you.
He also pointed out the fact that if a specialist doctor or a Panama Canal pilot who earns between 6,000 and $10,000 a month, runs for a representative position, they will be able to go to the place where they are elected, take their salary and not leave that budget to appoint his replacement.
He stressed that this law is completely unconstitutional since it gives civil servants privileges over private sector workers who can only opt for unpaid leave when they are elected to a popularly elected position.
