According to the Court of Auditors, thisamount corresponds to 3,359 employees.
SANTO DOMINGO- An audit conducted by the Chamber of Accounts of the Dominican Republicon the Ministry of Housing, Habitat and Buildings (Mivhed), published on July 28 of this year, revealed that in that state agency there were different payrolls for an amount exceeding RD$252,411,681 that, as of December 2023, had not been published on the entity's transparency portal.
“In the verification carried out on the entity's institutional portal, we verified that there are payrolls of different denominations for an amount amounting to RD$252,411,681 that, as of December 31, 2023, had not been published for public knowledge on the entity's transparency portal,” concluded the 183-page audit, published on the Chamber of Accounts' website.
The evaluation covers the period from January 1, 2022 to December 31, 2023, and included the components of the Internal Control System existing during the audited period.
“The publication of non-regular and retroactive payrolls , as well as those for special projects, was omitted . The failure to publish various payrolls of the entity on the portal, totaling RD$252,411,681, contravenes compliance with access to information laws and transparency regulations, which limits citizens' right to social control and undermines accountability,” the audit states.
According to the document, the unpublished payroll corresponds to permanent stafffor an amount of RD$ 6,047,552 with 169 employees, temporary staff in career positions RD$ 133,384,417, 1,902 employees; temporary staff of an occasional nature RD$1,740,714, 10 employees; staff processing pensions RD$10,665 1 employee; temporary project Dominicana Se Reconstruye RD$108,423,333, 1,214 employees.
Also, temporary project San Francisco de Macorís Regional Hospital RD$540,000, 8 employees; temporary project Humanization of the Elías Piña Penitentiary System RD$2,265,000, 55 employees, for a grand total of RD$252,411,681 and 3,359 employees.
Source: Audit carried out on the Mivhed period 2022-2023.
The document cites non-compliance with Organic Law No. 247-12 of August 9, 2012, Title I, concerning fundamental provisions and principles of the administrative function, as well as General LawNo. 200-04 of February 25, 2005, Chapter I, concerning the right to information and access to administrative files and records. It also mentions the resolution that created the single transparency portal and established the standardization policies for transparency divisions, dated February 10, 2021.
The Chamber of Accounts emphasizes that “the highest authority of the MIVHED is responsible for ensuring that the person in charge of the Office of Free Access to Public Information publishes all paid payrolls in a timely and complete manner, in accordance with the provisions of Law No. 200-04 on Free Access to Public Information.”
What the Mivhed said
In a communication dated November 11, 2024, Hilaria Muñoz, in charge of Budget Execution, explained that: "In the case of the temporary payroll in career positions, it was authorized to report starting from the payroll corresponding to the month of March 2023, at the request of the Office of Access to Information.
“Payrolls for retroactive and/or additional payments are not usually uploaded to the portal because, as their name indicates, they are payrolls that are paid outside the corresponding month. In the case of the payrolls for the Dominican Republic Rebuilds, the Humanization of the Penitentiary System, and the payroll for personnel of the San Francisco de Macorís Regional Hospital, due to a lack of awareness at the time and because they are not regular payrolls, they were not uploaded to the portal,” noting that the cases have been rectified and these payrolls are uploaded monthly to the portal.
For his part, Carlos Bonilla, Minister of MIVHED, in a letter sent on July 14 of this year, stated: “We accept the observations made and inform you that the situation indicated has been duly remedied, in strict compliance with the legal and regulatory provisions on transparency and access to public information.”
He added: “Given that the deficiencies noted have been fully corrected and the publication mechanisms have been structurally strengthened, we respectfully request the reconsideration of this point and its removal from the final audit report.
