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Thursday, January 26, 2017

The San Juan Daily Star

GOOD MORNING

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January 26, 2017

The San Juan Daily Star, the only paper with News Service in English in Puerto Rico, publishes 7 days a week, with a Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday ediƟon, along with a Weekend EdiƟon to cover Friday, Saturday and Sunday.

In Letter to Control Board, House Treasury Chairman Urges Extreme Care in Estimating Income for Fiscal Plan BY MARIA MIRANDA SIERRA [email protected]

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INDEX Local Mainland Business InternaƟonal Viewpoint Movies Cinema

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NoƟcias en Español Legal NoƟces Sports Games Horoscope Cartoons

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ew Progressive Party Rep. Antonio “Tony” Soto on Wednesday sent a letter to José Carrión III, chairman of the federal Financial Oversight and Management Board, in which he highlighted ways to achieve additional income for the fiscal plan ranging around $1.5 billion, while reducing spending by the same amount. Soto, who is the House Treasury Committee chairman, also touched on the island Legislature’s “responsibility for approving the government’s annual budget.” “We are committed to doing the work necessary to allow Puerto Rico to return to fiscal solvency,” Soto wrote in his letter. “Gov. Ricardo Rosselló will soon file the Puerto Rico fiscal plan that the Oversight Board [must] approve, this will shape our budgets for the next decade. The federal law PROMESA envisions a broad role for the Legislature in shaping its budgets under the constraints of the fiscal plan. It would be wise for the board to consider the expertise of the Puerto Rico Legislature regarding a wide variety of budgetary options and possibilities.” Soto said the board would intervene “only if the Puerto Rico government” can’t approve a balanced budget. “It’s our goal to avoid section 202(e)(3), in which the board can unilaterally approve a budget if the Legislature fails to do so in accordance with the board-approved fiscal plan,” Soto added. “The best way to avoid that is through an open and constructive dialogue with us.” For example, Soto noted that the revenue needed in the board’s recommendations for the fiscal plan is around $1.5 billion. “However, revenue estimates depend on economic activity as a result of macroeconomic considerations, the reduction of fiscal stimulus, and the specifics of revenue measures implemented,” he said. “In other words, the

Antonio “Tony” Soto

board’s recommendations cannot be considered in the abstract, and must take into account economic and political realities, which will depend on the Legislature’s implementation of the fiscal plan.” He added that the board must make the same considerations for spending reductions. For example, Soto said the economic effect of reducing pensions would be higher than other spending cuts, because “our studies show a clear propensity of retirees to spend most or all of their income in meeting their needs.” “All actions geared toward reducing spending must be made with careful consideration of the effects they will have in our struggling economy,” Soto said. “As a matter of fact, by the governor’s initiative, we have approved several measures [designed to] increase revenues, such as the extension of Law 154 for 10 years. Also, we have focused on reducing movement cost that includes the extension of Law 66 [the Fiscal Sustainability Act of 2014]; this should result in government cost reductions and contain public sector expense growth, and we are in the process of doing much more.” Soto noted that Puerto Rico’s population is undergoing a demographic contraction, which in theory should reduce some costs. “Such contraction is leaving us with an aging and economically disadvantaged population,” Soto said. “Health care costs will not go down in direct proportion to our population loss, particularly because Puerto Rico has the nation’s highest proportion of residents who are eligible both for Medicare and Medicaid.” He added that the budget the board proposes is also fundamental to determining Puerto Rico’s financing needs. “It will be very hard to fund capital expenditure in the first few years of the new fiscal plan without some financing for maintenance and targeted improvements,” Soto added. “Puerto Rico has been in a fiscal emergency for 10 years and has been unable to undertake significant capital expenditures in the last four years because of lack of capital access. However, those improvements are more than overdue.” Soto said federal action is necessary as well and that the board’s recommendations can carry a lot of weight in Congress and with the executive branch of the federal government. “Your assistance in advocating for necessary funding and other federal actions for Puerto Rico’s economy to grow again is of the utmost importance,” Soto added.

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The San Juan Daily Star

Thursday, January 26, 2017

Bill Would Require Notification of Victim’s Family When Protection Order Issued BY MARIA MIRANDA SIERRA [email protected]

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ew Progressive Party (NPP) Reps. Víctor Torres González and Ramón Luis Rodríguez filed joint legislation on Wednesday to notify the relatives of a victim who has issued a protection order. “All of Puerto Rico has been overcome in recent days by the most recent events of gender violence that have taken place,” Torres González Víctor Torres González said. “We need to take action, we can not allow for this social ill to continue can help prevent more acts of violence out of proportion. That is why we de- from taking place.” The comments made by the NPP cided to file this piece of legislation, which will require the court to notify Rep. for District 23, which includes the the relatives of the victim on the com- towns of Guayanilla, Peñuelas, Ponce plaint or protection order they granted and Yauco, arise after tragic events in their favor. This way, the close rela- took place in Juana Díaz on Monday, tives will be aware of the situation and when a man, in front of his children,

killed his former partner, even as she had a protection order against him. According to the preliminary Police investigation, the young mother’s relatives did not know that Arelis Suárez Santiago had a protection order against her former partner and father of her children, Félix Ramos Domínguez, 33. “We are trying to amend the process of notification of orders so that it includes the parents and children of the victim who seeks protection under … Law 54 of 1989, also known as the Domestic Violence Prevention and Intervention Law, so that this way these people know first-hand about the situation,” Rodríguez added. “Many times, out of fear, shame or any other reason, the victim keeps to herself/ himself the fact that they obtained a protection order to safeguard their life and that of their children. But it’s vi-

tal that the immediate family knows about this so that they can intervene in the support process.” Currently, any protection order expedited under the aforementioned law must be made known personally to the person it was processed against, either through a court bailiff, a public order official, or any person of at least 18 years of age who is not involved in the case. The legislation would force the court to also deliver an official communication on the granting of the protection order to the victim’s immediate family. The NPP lawmakers added that the initiative will be the beginning of what they described as the “Defense of the Victim,” a campaign aimed at protecting victims and their children from gender violence.

Bill to Streamline Divorce by Mutual Consent Gains Favor in House By JOHN McPHAUL [email protected]

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uerto Rico Bar Association President Alejandro Torres Rivera told a House committee this week that he supports the initiative of Rep. Enrique Meléndez Ortiz that would permit public notaries to grant divorces by mutual consent. “They can contribute to the decongestion of cases in Superior Court,” Torres Rivera argued during his presentation before the House Legal Committee, chaired by the Rep. María Milagros Charbonier, which began analysis of House Bill 378, which would amend the Civil Code of 1930. The Bar Association president pointed out that divorce through a notary would be viable if there were no circumstances such as alimony or property of considerable size, or is-

sues related to children born of the marriage. The position was endorsed by the president of the Puerto Rico Association of Notaries, William González Rosario. Carla Rivera, representing the island Justice Department, said the agency agrees with the measure and seconded the position of the Bar Association to exclude from the remedy cases of marriages in which there are minor or disabled children, noting that is the courts that must safeguard the needs of minors. Likewise, Alejandro Figueroa of the Legal Services Corp. suggested that the legislation should stipulate the rights that shelter minors. Charlene Rivera Agosto, representing the commonwealth Family Department, also favored the bill and its recommendations. Demographic Registry Direc-

tor Wanda Llovet Díaz welcomed the legislation, while recommending that language be included in which it is established that the notification of divorce be sent directly by e-mail to her agency. Both the committee chair and the author of the measure indicated that they intend to broaden the tools that couples who wish to divorce by mutual consent can use, so that work can be streamlined in court and the matter can be resolved in the privacy of a notarial office. “This does not mean that if a couple wishes to divorce in court, they cannot do so,” Meléndez Ortiz said. “This gives an additional alternative to people who do not have major disputes over their property and custody of the children, so that a notary, who is not a judge, but an official who collects the agreement between the parties, can issue a document es-

tablishing such understandings.” Charbonier said the amendment will be joined to the study of the Civil Code to be conducted during the current four-year legislative period.

Alejandro Torres Rivera

The San Juan Daily Star

Thursday, January 26, 2017

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Future of Giant Radio Telescope in Arecibo in Limbo T out of funds to support the observatory. NSF officials told The Associated Press that the agency prefers that the observatory remain open with help from collaborators that would provide a funding boost. However, other alternatives include suspending operations at the observatory, turning it into an

he future of one of the world’s largest single-dish radio telescopes is in limbo after the U.S. National Science Foundation announced it was seeking someone to operate the Arecibo Observatory in Puerto Rico. Wednesday’s announcement comes as the federal agency runs

educational center or shutting it down. The observatory has a 1,000foot-wide (305-meter-wide) dish that is used in part to track asteroids that might be on a collision course with Earth. It was featured in films including the James Bond movie “GoldenEye.”

Bhatia Assails Move to Sack Debt Audit Commission BY MARIA MIRANDA SIERRA [email protected]

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opular Democratic Party (PDP) Sen. Eduardo Bhatia on Wednesday censured Gov. Ricardo Rosselló’s action against the audit of the debt that an independent commission has been working on since 2016 to evaluate the island’s credit. Last July, the Puerto Rico Integrated Commission for the Comprehensive Audit of the Public Credit reported its preliminary findings and warned that part of the debt could have possibly been issued illegally.

Eduardo Bhatia

“Last [Tuesday] night we learned that the governor sent letters to the private sector representatives and the union leaders and to the non-profits to dismiss them as members of the Puerto Rico Integrated Commission for the Comprehensive Audit of the Public Credit that was born through Law 97 of 2015 and that was aimed at auditing Puerto Rico’s [public] debt,” Bhatia said. The former Senate president said “this hostile expulsion” of distinguished and renowned members of the commission further divides the country. “In the circumstances Puerto Rico is in, it is necessary to have transparency and independent validators that look at the country’s situation from a fair perspective and without political colors,” Bhatia said. The commission established under Law 97 of 2015 was created to carry out a comprehensive audit of all the debt issued by the Puerto Rico government so as to renegotiate the terms and conditions with bondholders. However, its members stated numerous times that they had only been able to publish a limited number of preliminary reports, in which they have not been able to establish estimated calculations on the island’s acquired public debt because the government never issued the assigned budget for its members to

carry out the audit. The commission did send the preliminary reports to the fiscal control board last year so the board’s members could get a better understanding of the work they had done up to that time. The commission was supposed to receive $2.8 million it was assigned to complete the audit in an efficient manner.

The committee consists of 17 members, including academics, representatives of civil society including the financial sector, and elected officials. The first meeting took place in January 2016. “The people have a right to know, and what is essential is that that right is not abridged,” Bhatia said.

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The San Juan Daily Star

Thursday, January 26, 2017

OMB Backs Bills That Facilitate Access to Consumer Complaints BY MARIA MIRANDA SIERRA [email protected]

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he staff at the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) said Wednesday that it favored two bills filed in the House of Representatives that will help consumers gain access to information related to any complaint or dispute filed against a business or retailer. During her presentation before the House Consumer Affairs, Banking and Insurance Committee, Luz Beatriz Rodríguez, who was representing OMB Designated Director José Iván Marrero, noted that she recognized the merits of House Bill 114 because it promotes access to information, transparency of government processes and vindication of consumer rights. The OMB official said the bill establishes that the Department of Consumer

Affairs (DACO by its Spanish acronym) should publish on its website information related to any complaint and or dispute that is filed by individual consumers, a group of consumers, or officials of a department or other government officials against any commercial establishment where commercial transactions are carried out involving goods and services. “This is compatible with the public policy of this administration, which seeks to provide mechanisms for transparency and citizen participation in government decision-making processes,” Rodríguez said. “In addition, the proposed initiative serves to encourage contractors to comply with norms that safeguard the consumer’s rights and avoid the negative publicity that can arise from information on complaints, disputes and or denouncements that are included in the registry.” Meanwhile, OMB attorney Wilfredo

Figueroa supported House Bill 284, which amends Article 2 of Law 146 of 1995, to create the “Registry of Contractors,” ascribed to DACO’s Construction Office, for the purpose of providing public access to the agency’s offices and so that the agency publishes in its website information related to complaints, disputes or denouncements that are generated against a contractor for reasons such as breach of contract and defective works, among others. “After evaluating the legislation, we found that it doesn’t explicitly provide the budget assignment, but includes issues of a management and/or technological nature under our purview,” Figueroa said. “However, since we concluded that the bill doesn’t have a determined budget impact that affects the functioning of the DACO, nor does it alter the management or technological nature of that functioning, we recommend its approval.”

DACO Secretary Michael Pierluisi also supported both pieces of legislation. Pierluisi explained in a written statement that the DACO website provides information on formal complaint processes, i.e., those processes that have complied with certain requirements in an established manner within the regulations and in which the applicant claims that his or her rights have been recognized and that a remedy has been granted. “Our website has a system through which the public can inquire about all the complaints presented in the agency since November 2016,” Pierluisi said. “This includes claims related to the contractors. The website, as it is currently set up, allows a search for complaints that have been presented against contractors using certain categories. This way, you can search by the number of the complaint, by the name of defendant, by the legal basis that gave origin to the complaint, by the region that it serves or by the date that it was filed.” Pierluisi added that once users identify the complaint they are looking for, the system allows the “user to see the type of complaint,” a summary of the facts, the date the complaint was filed, the claim requested, the date of the transaction, and the current status of the complaint.

UPR Students Discuss Funding, Contracting Concerns with Gov’t Officials

William Villafañe By JOHN McPHAUL [email protected]

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tudent representatives from the University of Puerto Rico’s (UPR) Río Piedras, Mayagüez, Cayey and Medical Sciences campuses held a meeting Wednesday afternoon with La Fortaleza Chief of Staff William Villafañe and Assistant Chief of Staff Itza García Rodríguez.

During the meeting at La Fortaleza, the participants discussed the ideas that have been proposed by the students for several years and those included in the Plan for Puerto Rico so that the UPR has priority when it comes to the contracting of services by the government. “Our proposal for UPR to have priority when the government is to hire services shares the general idea presented by the current administration in the Plan for Puerto Rico,” said Wilmarí de Jesús, president of the Río Piedras campus General Council of Students. “However, our proposal is a little broader because it includes the mentoring and coaching services provided by the Education Department. It is from that area where there are convergences that we came to dialogue with the new elected officials, hoping that there will be a work agenda for the development of the University of Puerto Rico.”

The students also discussed the effects of the freezing of the funding formula for the UPR and the effects that the cuts suggested by the federal fiscal oversight board could have on the institution. One of the main concerns of the students is that the University of Puerto Rico is seen as an expense and not as an alternative for the economic development of Puerto Rico and the regions where each of the 11 campuses are located. “It may be very easy to point out from San Juan that districts such as Utuado, Aguadilla or Cayey should disappear, but the detrimental effect on education and the economy of the region where [those campuses are] located would be disastrous for the country,” said Danilo Pérez Rivera, president of the General Student Council at UPR-Cayey. The students were emphatic in that their main opposition to an increase in enrollment or the implementation of a so-

called adjusted revenue matrix is because it is used as the main proposal to bring funds to the system. Nevertheless, they pointed out that this is a topic on which there are often different points of view at the UPR and that the discussion of the subject will continue. “It does not seem to us that establishing an income-adjusted tuition is a viable alternative either for university students or for the country, since we must aspire to make university education accessible to everyone,” said Marysel Pagán Santana, president of the General Council of Students at the Medical Sciences Campus. “We must detail if there are studies and models of these charges and the effects they would have on the battered economy of the country.” The group stressed that the main purpose of Wednesday’s initial meeting was to establish a channel for dialogue with the new government.

The San Juan Daily Star

Thursday, January 26, 2017

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UPR Carolina to Research Homelessness in Collaborative Project By JOHN McPHAUL [email protected]

I Photo by Héctor René Santos

n a pioneering agreement, the University of Puerto Rico in Carolina and the ProHomeless Coalition of Puerto Rico, are exploring new areas of collaboration for new

education and research action to help Puerto Rico’s homeless population. The commitment assumed by both entities will be extended for three years and will cover psychosocial research experiences. “This initiative is unique, since at present there is no other collaborative project of this type that is specifically aimed at developing research, using data collected by nongovernmental organizations in Puerto Rico on the homeless, and in turn provide up-to-date information based on scientific evidence on the profile of this population and their needs” said Dr. Maricela Porbén González, director of the Center for Multidisciplinary Research at UPR-Carolina. The professor of the Department of Social Sciences and Criminal Justice added

that the results of the research carried out by the faculty, students and the work team of the Pro-Homeless Coalition can be used to make known the service needs of this population, and also for the development of public policy in Puerto Rico for the provision of services tailored to these needs. In addition, as part of the collaboration, students will have the opportunity to strengthen their training and research skills. The UPR-Carolina Director Dr. Moisés Orengo Avilés said collaborative agreement has great weight and importance for the academy. “Definitely, its impact for the development of research, through the Center for Multidisciplinary Research, and the training of our students, is core,” he said. “In addition, in the process, it is possible to contribute with action and knowledge to the situation of the homeless population in Puerto Rico. That is relevant for the country.” The planner, executive president

and founder of the Coalition, Francisco J. Rodríguez Fraticelli, noted that his organization has “been looking for a long time to expand the impact of our work by bringing students closer to the community.” “In this way, community experience and knowledge enrich and strengthen the process of teaching and professional training in Puerto Rico,” he said. The initiative is already being implemented so students in the social sciences and criminal justice at UPR-Carolina will have the opportunity to strengthen their training and research skills. From Wednesday through next Tuesday, some 50 university graduates are collaborating as volunteers in conducting interviews for the Census of Homeless Persons. To participate in the census, students will receive training to work with the questionnaire to be used to collect data and other input related to the sensitization and management of the population of the homeless.

Rivera Schatz Inquires About Status of Gender Perspective Memo By JOHN McPHAUL [email protected]

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s confirmation hearings for Gov. Ricardo Rosselló’s nominees continued on Wednesday, Senate President Thomas Rivera Schatz asked the Department of Education for information on whether the agency’s internal memo on gender perspective had been repealed, an issue casting some doubt on the nomination of Julia Keleher as head of the agency. According to Forum News, Rivera Schatz, in his initial turn of the ordinary session, requested evidence of the repeal of the memo. “The Senate of Puerto Rico asks the Department of Education to request information for the purpose of repealing the Department Memo No. 19-2014-15 of February 25, 2015, which implemented the gender perspective of … the department and also if item nine of the general guidelines part was deleted or amended in Memo No. 16-2015-2016 so that all students wear the uniform that corresponds to their gender, whether female or male,” Rivera Schatz said. The Senate president requested that the information be provided by Wednesday. For its part, the Search for Equality Coalition (CABE by its Spanish acronym) reacted Wednesday, after Education Secretary-designate Julia Keleher said a day earlier that she

would repeal the policy memos on uniforms, restrooms and other matters related to gender perspective. “Yesterday the country had to witness a disastrous spectacle for the human rights of the students of our public schools,” said Osvaldo Burgos, a spokesman for CABE in a written statement. “The nominee for secretary of education and the governor of Puerto Rico turned their backs on all students, but especially those who are part of the LGBTT communities, by surrendering to the harassment of the Senate president.” “The most surprising thing about this is that while civil society demands that the Department of Education sustain its policies of equality, the governor and the secretary yield to religious pressures to go in the opposite direction,” Burgos added. He referred to press conferences and statements in which dozens of civil and trade union organizations participated in February 2015 and more recently in December 2016. “The calls and support for the memos that [face] repeal come from law professionals, social workers, and psychology, public health and education professionals,” said Amárilis Pagán Jiménez. “We have not spoken from personal opinions, but rather from … research that reinforces the importance of creating safe spaces, equality and zero tolerance for discrimination or harassment in schools in the country.”

Spokesman Thomas Bryan added that “[u] nfortunately, with the repeal of the memos we are anticipating gross violations of the human rights of students in our schools.” “That is why CABE is already coordinating a legal team that will be in charge of representing the students of LGBTT communities who are discriminated against or whose rights are violated as a result of the new policies of the Education Department.” CABE is composed of the Rainbow Pride Coalition, Coaí, Matria Project, Amnesty International, the Puerto Rico Psychology Associa-

tion, the Social Work Professionals Association, the Committee against Homophobia and Discrimination, the Sexual Orientation Discrimination and Human Rights Section of the Legal Assistance Clinic of the UPR School of Law, the Women’s Universal Movement, the Puerto Rico Community Network for Clinical Research on AIDS (PR CoNCRA), the American Civil Liberties Union, Cristo Sanador Church, The Legal Association of Students for LGBTT Rights of the Inter American University Law Faculty (ALEP) and people in their individual capacity.