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Para ver esta página en español, oprima aquí. Constitutional Assembly ProposedRodriguez Hearing Set For Feb. 27thCalderon To Support GutierrezGov’t To Manage 3 Prisons AgainIsland Loses $47M InTobacco MoneyCommonwealth Plates DefendedFajardo SIP AppointedGovernor Will Accept Anti-Corruption ProposalsU.S. Allocates $15M For Antiterrorism
Constitutional Assembly Proposed By Proviana Colon Diaz February 5, 2002 The idea of holding a Constitutional Assembly to file several amendments to the Commonwealth Constitution was presented Tuesday by Judiciary Committee Chairman Edualdo Baez Galib. If the people choose to vote in favor of the Constitutional Assembly during the general elections of 2004, it will be up to island residents to eliminate the Senate and the House and turn the Legislature into a unilateral organism. "After a century of its creation, the political and social realities of Puerto Rico have suffered some transformations, to which the Constitution should be adjusted," Baez Galib said. Such realities include the transformation of the urban development of the island that have resulted in several sectors not represented well. "There is no need to have both a Senate and a House of Representatives on an island were the biggest differences from one coast to the other are idiomatic expressions," Baez Galib said. According to the veteran legislator, the idea to have a one-house legislature is supported by prominent figures in both the Popular Democratic Party and the New Progressive Party. One issue, however, which will not be included in the assembly, is the island's status.
Rodriguez Hearing Set For Feb. 27th February 5, 2002 SAN JUAN (AP) - Popular Democratic Party (PDP) Sen. Maribel Rodriguez will have to appear before the Senate Ethics Committee Feb. 27 to refute the evidence against her, even if her legal advisor cannot make it to the meeting. Senate Ethics Committee Chairman Eudaldo Baez Galib okayed the decision made Jan. 23 when the hearing previously set for Feb.1-3 was rescheduled for Feb. 27, 28 and March 1 due to previous engagements of the senator's attorney, Joaquin Monserrate Matienzo, according to published reports. Baez Galib explained that the hearing was originally rescheduled because Monserrate Matienzo was Rodriguez's attorney in all the forums. "Our denying the postponement could have implied his resignation, and the fact that he wasn't asking for too much time guaranteed me that no one would raise controversy in the future for forcing [Rodriguez] to leave her attorney," Baez Galib said. The committee is investigating three cases against Rodriguez related to the public funds she allegedly misused for her trip to the Puerto Rican Day Parade in New York, the fundraising checks she allegedly deposited in her personal bank account, and the financial statement she filed to the Government Ethics Office.
Calderon To Support Gutierrez February 4, 2002 SAN JUAN (AP) - Gov. Sila M. Calderon confirmed to Congressman Luis Gutierrez's (D-IL) political committee that she will be campaigning in favor of his candidacy on February 21 and 22. According to published reports, Calderon will emphasize on the importance of the Puerto Rican congressman's work in favor of the Puerto Rican community in Illinois. In an internal primary election to be held in March, Gutierrez faces the Mexican attorney Marty Castro and Joseph Holowinski, a Polish. Castro, who has received financial contributions from Puerto Rican pro statehood supporters is considered Gutierrez's strongest rival.
Gov’t To Manage 3 Prisons Again February 4, 2002 SAN JUAN (AP) - Three prison facilities of the island that had been managed by U.S. based companies, will go back to being under the management of the Corrections Administration this week, it was announced Sunday. Corrections Secretary Victor Rivera said in published reports that the contracts with Wakenhut Corporation for Security and with Corrections Corporation of America were cancelled due to budgetary reasons and not because these companies offered poor services. The contracts with both companies cost $82 million a year for the management of two prison facilities in Ponce and one in Bayamon. Rivera said last year four juvenile institutions were transferred from private management to the government, thus saving at least $10 million to the agency. The privatization of these institutions was performed during the past government administration.
Island Loses $47M InTobacco Money February 3, 2002 SAN JUAN (AP) - The Government Development Bank (GDB) announced that Puerto Rico will receive this year some $47 million less than what it was originally supposed to get in the agreement with the tobacco companies because a law required by the contract was not approved on time. GDB President Juan Agosto Alicea said the island will only receive $33 million of $80.2 million. He said the agreement establishes that the state governments had to approve before June 30, 2000, a model law to regulate the tobacco companies that did not enter into the agreement to avoid unfair competition. "That legislation had to be approved before June 30, 2000, but it was defectively approved in September of that year and needed to be corrected in two occasions, in December 2000 and June 2001," Agosto Alicea said in a press release.
Commonwealth Plates Defended February 3, 2002 SAN JUAN (AP) - In the midst of harsh questions from opponents of the Commonwealth, Secretary of State Ferdinand Mercado defended the government's decision to prepare a license plate to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the Commonwealth. Mercado praised the initiative of the government officials to commemorate the event and denied ideological motivations in the decision, which is attributed to an initiative of Transportation and Public Works (DTPW) Secretary Jose Izquierdo. Mercado's comments arose after pro-statehood former House candidate Luis Maldonado announced his intention to sue the government for the alleged imposition of the license plate. "This does not deal with an ideological or political matter, and the suspicion and the ideological paranoia should be removed because Gov. Sila Calderon's administration is a clean government," said Mercado, who also presides the Special Committee for the Celebration of the 50th Anniversary of the Commonwealth Constitution. Meanwhile, interim DTPW Secretary Hector Camacho clarified that the use of the new plate is not compulsory and assured that car dealers have regular license plates available for those who do not want the commemorative one. Mercado argued before the initiative's critics that "as the decision to carry the Commonwealth plate is voluntary, we guarantee the constitutional right to the free association and expression that we all have."
Fajardo SIP Appointed February 1, 2002 Justice Secretary Anabelle Rodriguez said she was satisfied with the Special Independent Prosecutor (SIP) Office's decision to appoint a special prosecutor to investigate former Education Secretary Victor Fajardo. Rodriguez explained in a prepared statement that after examining the report containing the Justice Department's investigation, the SIP Office concluded there was enough basis to determine that Fajardo violated the Penal Code and the Government Ethics Law. Attorney Cesar Lopez Cintron will be the SIP to conduct the investigation against Fajardo and file any criminal charges that he believes may proceed. According to a prepared statement, the Justice Department's investigation revealed that during his tenure at the Education Department, Fajardo requested and received an illegal payment of $750,000 from a contractor in exchange for granting multimillion-dollar contracts.
Governor Will Accept Anti-Corruption Proposals By Proviana Colon Diaz February 1, 2002 HUMACAO - Gov. Sila Calderon said Thursday that her administration will accept recommendations on how to fight corruption, regardless of where they come from. However, in an open reference to New Progressive Party President Carlos Pesquera, who caused a controversy Wednesday when he filed eight bills before the Legislature aimed at fighting gubernatorial corruption, Calderon said those who refused to do so in the past should "clean their houses" before making any suggestions. "Those who for eight years remained blind, deaf, and mute and now pretend to pose as guardians against corruption, now have to first look at their own conscience and their own omissions. They must also have to take affirmative actions to clean their houses, because this is not only about rules and regulations, this goes to the attitude and character of the person," said Calderon. Calderon made her statements following a press conference in Humacao to announce economic aids for the zone. Upon making her statements, the governor was then repeatedly asked if accepting all recommendations meant she would also be willing to meet with Pesquera to discuss the bills. A smiling governor would answer "it means exactly what I have said," and "I just answered the question." It wasn't until a group of reporters refuted the governor by saying that she wasn't answering the question that Calderon then issued a simple "no." "The answer is no. I really have nothing else to say," Calderon said.
U.S. Allocates $15M For Antiterrorism February 1, 2002 SAN JUAN (AP) - The U.S. Health Department announced a $15 million allocation to help Puerto Rico face a possible terrorist attack with biological weapons or other emergencies in the health area. U.S. Health Secretary Tommy Thompson said the money is part of a $1.1 billion allocation authorized through the antiterrorism law that President George W. Bush signed Jan. 10, according to published reports. The funds should be used for general plans intended to help fight bioterrorism, give a major impulse to scientific investigations, and improve the hospitals' capacity to respond to an emergency of that sort. "We are putting money in the hands of the states and local communities so that they'll be able to prepare a public health system that can respond to a bioterrorist attack," the federal public official said in published reports.
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