NewsWhore
07-23-2007, 04:30 PM
The Dominican legislators receive hundreds of thousands of pesos each month for what is called the "social Assistance Fund" or, more popularly, the "little box". Currently, civil watchgroups such as Participacion Ciudadana (Citizen Participation) and the Foundation for Institutionalism and Justice (Finjus) are questioning the practice as a source of official corruption. PC executive director, Javier Cabreja, told Hoy reporters that the resources now being allotted to the legislators should instead be handled by government ministries, such as Education, Public Works and Public Health. Servio Tulio Castanos Guzman, the executive vice-president of Finjus, said that the "little boxes" just promote the waste of public resources and contradict the principles that should reign in the National Congress.
PLD Senator Charlie Mariotti, Monte Plata, defended the practice as a way the legislators can service the needs of their constituents. The senator said, "It is not easy out there in the provinces with those levels of poverty..." Nonetheless, the senator admitted that other mechanisms should be used since the current practice just reinforces the age-old practice of patronage.
More... (http://www.dr1.com/index.html#4)
PLD Senator Charlie Mariotti, Monte Plata, defended the practice as a way the legislators can service the needs of their constituents. The senator said, "It is not easy out there in the provinces with those levels of poverty..." Nonetheless, the senator admitted that other mechanisms should be used since the current practice just reinforces the age-old practice of patronage.
More... (http://www.dr1.com/index.html#4)