NewsWhore
03-03-2009, 05:20 PM
It seems that the Congress doesn't get over one scandal before it enters another, and now the issue is the salary paid to the "honorable" legislators that is facing off senators and deputies for the difference of RD$50,000.
Dominican Liberation Party (PLD) legislator Euclides Sanchez is questioning the fact that deputies earn a higher salary than the senators. He ignored the "social fund" also known as the "little barrel" that these legislators handle and that reaches between RD$10 and RD$18 million a year for each senator.
Because of the difference in wage with the deputies, Sanchez urged Senate president Reinaldo Pared Perez to increase the salaries of the 32 senators with funds from the senate budget in order to bring the two salaries into line or for the Chamber of Deputies to reduce the salaries of its members.
Sanchez said, "This creates a problem, because we pay the same taxes and the pension of a deputy is higher than that of a senator. Or they reduce the salaries of the deputies or they increase those of the senators."
Meanwhile, spokesperson for the PLD deputies, Domingo Paez said that the legislators are grossly "overpaid", and because of this the discussion would be nonsense. "My personal position is that we should earn less. I believe that a legislator in the Dominican Republic is an ultra-privileged man. We are grossly privileged and in consequence it is not fit for us to be stuck in a public debate that argues if one earns more or one earns less," stated Paez. Actually, a senator earns a basic salary of RD$125,000 a month and a deputy close to RD$200,000 per month, plus multiple benefits that more than double their wages.
But both the senator and the deputy pay in 6% of their salaries to the pension fund. The complaint from Sanchez is that upon retirement a deputy will receive a more generous pension than a senator. Since last March deputies have enjoyed a RD$58,491 pay increase. Now they each earn a basic salary of RD$175,000 per month. With "incentives" each deputy receives RD$342,568 monthly. Senators are paid a salary of RD$125,000 per month, plus "incentives", and they handle the money from the "little barrel" at their own discretion.
More... (http://www.dr1.com/index.html#9)
Dominican Liberation Party (PLD) legislator Euclides Sanchez is questioning the fact that deputies earn a higher salary than the senators. He ignored the "social fund" also known as the "little barrel" that these legislators handle and that reaches between RD$10 and RD$18 million a year for each senator.
Because of the difference in wage with the deputies, Sanchez urged Senate president Reinaldo Pared Perez to increase the salaries of the 32 senators with funds from the senate budget in order to bring the two salaries into line or for the Chamber of Deputies to reduce the salaries of its members.
Sanchez said, "This creates a problem, because we pay the same taxes and the pension of a deputy is higher than that of a senator. Or they reduce the salaries of the deputies or they increase those of the senators."
Meanwhile, spokesperson for the PLD deputies, Domingo Paez said that the legislators are grossly "overpaid", and because of this the discussion would be nonsense. "My personal position is that we should earn less. I believe that a legislator in the Dominican Republic is an ultra-privileged man. We are grossly privileged and in consequence it is not fit for us to be stuck in a public debate that argues if one earns more or one earns less," stated Paez. Actually, a senator earns a basic salary of RD$125,000 a month and a deputy close to RD$200,000 per month, plus multiple benefits that more than double their wages.
But both the senator and the deputy pay in 6% of their salaries to the pension fund. The complaint from Sanchez is that upon retirement a deputy will receive a more generous pension than a senator. Since last March deputies have enjoyed a RD$58,491 pay increase. Now they each earn a basic salary of RD$175,000 per month. With "incentives" each deputy receives RD$342,568 monthly. Senators are paid a salary of RD$125,000 per month, plus "incentives", and they handle the money from the "little barrel" at their own discretion.
More... (http://www.dr1.com/index.html#9)