“This condition of updating the certifications with the new administration was suggested by Geanilda Vásquez, on your instructions, to proceed immediately with these payments. Twenty-two months have passed since then, Mr. President, and we understand that most of the files are currently in your office.”.
SANTO DOMINGO. Carrying signs alluding to their demands, demanding payment of the 380,800,566.29 (three hundred eighty million eight hundred thousand five hundred sixty-six and 29/00) that the State owes them for constructed works, engineers and architects marched yesterday to the National Palace.
“We want to call on President Luis Abinader to remind him of our demand from the group of engineers who are demanding that the Dominican State pay the outstanding amounts owed since 1996 for works that were formally contracted, built, measured, properly supervised, and put into service throughout the country,” declared architect Emiliano Familia Santos.
The professionals said that there are currently eleven public institutions for which they built works and after more than 20 years have not received payment for the work done.
“Keep your promise, we want to be paid while we’re still alive,” read one of the signs. “Mr. President, we are talking about 107 cases involving engineers, architects, and small construction business owners, to whom the State owes RD$380,800,566.29 (three hundred eighty million eight hundred thousand five hundred sixty-six and 29/100), and during your campaign for the Presidency of the Republic, we met and discussed this matter with you on several occasions,” the plaintiffs stated.
They said that at all times, Abinader made the promise that upon arriving in government, he would honor the payment and settlement of those debts, “a promise that revived in us a true hope, which continued to grow, when in response to our communication in October 2020, you responded by forming a Technical Commission, headed by Minister Geanilda Vásquez Almánzar, to coordinate and follow up on our payment claims.”.
They explained that after six months of work, the Collection Board and the Codiano Institutional Committee (CIC), together with the Official Technical Commission, completed the process of updating the certifications of the corresponding debts, “although some institutions have refused to issue and deliver said certifications of our debts, as is the case of the Ministry of Public Works, (MOPC), Institute of Aid and Housing, (INAVI), National Institute of Hydraulic Resources, (INDRHI) and the Central Electoral Board, (JCE).”.
“This condition of updating the certifications with the new administration was suggested by Geanilda Vásquez, on your instructions, to proceed immediately with these payments. Twenty-two months have passed since then, Mr. President, and we understand that most of the files are currently in your office.”.
The professionals "earnestly" requested the president to initiate the payment process, with the aim of putting an end "to a quarter of a century of suffering and disregard, family disintegrations and deaths, of which we have been victims at the hands of the disastrous previous governments. WE WANT TO BE PAID WHILE WE ARE ALIVE," they declared.
Results of the march
Upon arriving at the outskirts of the National Palace yesterday, the march participants refused to be received by a deputy minister, demanding to be seen by a higher-ranking official.
“And since we were not granted our request, we decided to send a letter to the Presidency requesting an appointment.”.
The Santos family asserted that they will not cease their struggle until the debt is paid and that they will attend the inauguration of the Padre Billini Hospital on Thursday, which will be led by the president. "We will stage a protest there," the spokesperson said.
