News
Thursday 30th May 2024.
May 29, 2024
Patsy Lee , elected representative of the Popular Party (PP), joined the voices demanding that the Electoral Tribunal (TE) give “urgent” attention to the challenges presented against proclaimed deputies who were chosen by voters in the last 5 elections. of May.
Furthermore, he suggested that to strengthen the commitment to transparency, a monitoring system should be implemented that allows the public to closely follow the handling of challenges.
Lee, from circuit 13-4 of La Chorrera, and one of the contested deputies, assures that it is important to determine that these demands do not violate the popular will or interfere with the installation of the new Assembly.
The National Assembly will be installed on July 1. According to Judge Eduardo Valdés Escoffery, there are 22 contested deputies , so it would be installed with 47 deputies.
“Anyone who feels violated has the right to challenge, this helps ensure transparency and justice in democratic processes. It is a fairly normal process, which candidates can access. However, it is also important that these impeachment procedures do not violate the popular will or interfere with the installation of the new Assembly. These actions should not compromise the decision of the electorate or the institutional stability of the country,” said Lee.
Lee is one of the deputies affected by the challenge in circuit 13-4, an electoral area where Eliécer Montenegro, former candidate for deputy for the Democratic Revolutionary Party (PRD), challenged the entire circuit election.
In addition to Lee, this lawsuit also affects Yutzaida Marín and Lilia Batista, from Realando Metas (RM).
In this regard, Lee recalled that the PRD had enough observers and activists, in each voting center, even more than necessary.
“Since they were not favored with the result of the elections, they are calling into question the work of the TE,” he added.
The number of contested elected deputies increases as the various proclamations of winners in the elections of May 5 are published in the electoral bulletins.
This Wednesday, May 29, the judge of the Electoral Tribunal (TE) Eduardo Valdés Escoffery , revealed that 22 deputies have been challenged to date.
He also added that in this electoral process, a total of 35 challenges have been presented : 22 deputies, 12 township representatives and 1 mayor.
“ This is the first time that there is such a high number of deputies , because attacking the multi-member circuits freezes everyone who is involved in that election. On the other hand, when single-member groups are attacked, then only one is affected,” said Valdés Escoffery, on the radio program Alta Voz (Omega Stereo), a space hosted by the journalist and former first lady of the Republic Lorena Castillo.
In the 2019 elections, the magistrate explained, the challenges affected 18 deputies. While after the 2014 elections, 20 were challenged. “There, 20 did succeed, because in 2014 there was a great example of use of State resources in a scandalous way. There were not two instances like there are now (…) We had to annul a lot of elections because the use of circuit games to benefit by generating inequity against the opponent was scandalous,” he recalled.
On the issue of lawsuits in multi-member circuits, he explained that it depends on what the person who has decided to attack the election is challenging. “If you attack the election, you are attacking all those who were proclaimed,” she maintained.
The president-elect, José Raúl Mulino , announced through his official X account the appointment of Virna Luque as vice minister of the Presidency. Luque will work alongside the designated minister, Juan Carlos Orillac.
She has a degree in Law and Political Science from the Santa María la Antigua University. She has a master’s degree in Maritime Law from the same university and another in Law from the University of San Diego, United States.
In the public sphere, she has held several positions, including secretary general of the Ministry of Public Security and the Ministry of Government and Justice.
She was general director of Customs in the government of former president Ricardo Martinelli; general director of Foreign Policy of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and substitute judge in the Electoral Court in the years 2002 to 2007, national director of Legal Advice, legal advisor of the Social Security Fund for one year, in 1996.
Additionally, she has practiced as a lawyer at firms such as Owens & Owens, Luque & Luque, and Lewis, D’Amato, Brisbois & Bisgaard LLP, among others.
President Laurentino Cortizo revealed this Wednesday, May 29, that he asked his ministers not to hide or modify information from the incoming Government regarding all the processes they carry out in their respective portfolios.
“As I told you in the Cabinet Council: I don’t want any type of makeup,” said the president.
According to Cortizo, ministers must provide, once the transition process begins, all information on the projects that are being executed, the location, physical progress and financial progress.
They are also required to report whether said projects face any legal or administrative problems, whether they are in the Comptroller’s Office or another entity, and whether or not the contractors have requested addendums. “But let things be told as they are. That the information be provided to the incoming Government,” he said.
This Monday, June 3, the transition between the elected Government of José Raúl Mulino and the outgoing Government of Cortizo must begin formally . On July 1, Mulino must take office.
Just when the administration of the Social Security Fund (CSS) launches a tender for the purchase of oxygen for 10 years, explaining that it has items for the supply of this medicine for the remainder of 2024, and promising that it will schedule the budget items For the next decade, documents come to light that demonstrate the debts it owes to its current suppliers.
This medium was able to verify that there are requests from oxygen suppliers, who for the last three years have been asking for their accounts to be honored and payments due to be made, including invoices dating back to the Covid-19 pandemic, when the country was most I need oxygen.
In the specific case of Aceitexígeno, the current debt is $15.4 million, according to a letter sent to the CSS administration on May 20.
Considering the oxygen that has been delivered to the Dr. Arnulfo Arias Madrid Hospital Complex, the debt is $9 million. It has been escalating, with the understanding that at the end of 2023 said debt did not exceed $7 million.
Meanwhile, polyclinics and primary care centers have been supplied with oxygen for $4.9 million that has not been paid, in addition to another $1.5 million that is derived from the medical oxygen that was delivered after the approval of the so-called Joint Covid Table. 19.
CSS supplier companies have warned that new purchase orders are not endorsed, nor are accounts receipt reports issued, duly supported by signed invoices. However, they continue to provide the services as part of the existing contractual relationship.
In parallel, the director of the CSS, Enrique Lau , has resumed the process to contract a million-dollar purchase of oxygen, just over a month after the inauguration of president-elect José Raúl Mulino.
The official called for bidding for the acquisition of oxygen for $91.6 million.
The public act, announced on May 24, includes the supply, transportation, delivery and discharge of the oxygen necessary for CSS hospitals and care centers, and proposals will be received on July 3.
The tender for oxygen poses a new competition between companies to secure an important client with the CSS, in terms of volumes and billing, for a decade.
The Plenary Session of the Supreme Court of Justice declared legal the entry of Carlos Mosquera (alias Calitín) , accused of being the alleged leader of a criminal structure of drug trafficking and money laundering, to the penal center located on the island of Punta Coco.
In resolving a habeas corpus appeal filed by Jasser Alexander Sánchez, Mosquera’s lawyer, the Court endorsed the transfer of the accused to the Punta Coco prison, a maximum security prison to which highly dangerous criminals are transferred.
The decision of the full Court, which included the unanimous vote of its nine judges, was notified through edict No.591 posted in the Court’s secretariat on the afternoon of yesterday, Tuesday, May 28.
Mosquera was arrested in Operation Alpes, carried out on January 10 in the provinces of Panama, Los Santos, Herrera and Panama Oeste. The authorities attribute drug trafficking and money laundering activities to the accused.
This is not the first time that Mosquera will visit the Punta Coco prison, since in 2015 he was sent to said penitentiary center, after being arrested in operation “Los Campeones”, in which a network dedicated to trafficking was also dismantled. of drugs.
On that occasion, the Plenary Court, with the presentation of Judge Harry Díaz, ordered the transfer of Mosquera to Punta Coco.
In Operation Alpes, authorities seized 22 vehicles valued at $1.7 million and $1.9 million in cash from 16 properties.
In this investigation, the judicial authorities achieved 23 sentencing agreements and the arrest of 42 people who provided various services to the criminal organization, from being front men, operating vehicles with double bottoms and providing security for the transfer of drugs.
According to the investigations of the Drug Prosecutor’s Office, Operation Alpes revealed that the criminal network led by Mosquera used the coasts of Azuero to hide drugs, which were then transported by land in vehicles with double bottoms.
This group was also dedicated to the sale of illicit substances in the provinces of Herrera and Los Santos, through collaborators of Colombian and Panamanian nationality, who were in charge of the logistics for the distribution of the drugs.
The National Secretariat of Energy reported the fuel prices that will be in effect between this Friday, May 31 and June 14.
According to the price table published in the Official Gazette , 95 octane gasoline will decrease by one cent per liter and will cost $1.04 ($3.93 per gallon) and 91 octane gasoline will also decrease by one cent per liter and will be sold at $0.95 ($3.61). per gallon).
Regarding low sulfur diesel, it is reported that it will register a slight increase, its price will be $0.87 per liter ($3.28 per gallon).