The call is made on the occasion of today's ninth anniversary of the suicide of an architect in the offices of OISOE, who left a note explaining the debts he had incurred.
SANTO DOMINGO – On the ninth anniversary of the suicide of architect David Rodríguez García, the Institutional Committee of the Dominican Republic (CIC) on Wednesday asked President Luis Abinader to develop a sensible and formal plan for the payment of debts owed by the government to a group of contractors, amounting to RD$1.55 billion, for works contracted, executed, and delivered throughout the country since 1996.
“Today, the 25th, nine years after that September 25, 2015, when the tragic suicide of Architect David Rodríguez García occurred inside the building that houses the Office of Supervising Engineers of State Works, OISOE, this death or induced crime, by the highest authorities who directed the OISOE and the mafia prevailing in that office, a dependency of the Presidency of the Republic, shook the entire Dominican society,” the professionals said through a post on the social network Instagram.
The CIC requested the Government to order and provide mechanisms to protect registered contractors from the abuse of power by officials, who, they said, act in blatant violation of the law.
Members of the CIC are maintaining a program of struggles to get the State to pay them. (External source).
They added that the incumbents of these institutions who have debts with the contractors who are members of the Dominican College of Engineers, Architects and Surveyors (CODIA) refuse to pay.
“As a result of that unfortunate event, the government authorities together with the CODIA board formed a commission to support the collection efforts of the contracting engineers,” they noted.
In the statement, those affected pointed out that the blood of the architect Rodríguez García “fertilized the formation and birth of the CIC which brings together a group of engineering professionals, with experience and proven reputation, to take legal action in legitimate right and in defense of the professional class.
“With courage, dignity, integrity and decorum, we undertook these tasks to prevent new generations from giving up on dreaming of a fairer profession and to enable them to achieve their noble ideals, because our young people have lost hope and trust in public institutions, as well as in those who lead them,” they emphasized.
They argued that public institutions show no mercy in their actions and practices. “We only see how they act selfishly, committing scandalous acts of corruption that erode the sense of decency that safeguards truth and loyalty,” they stated.
The debt
The debt accumulated by the Government covers contracts made with various government institutions, including the Ministry of Public Works and Communications (MOPC), the Office of State Works Supervising Engineers (OISOE) and the Ministry of Education (MINERD).
On the other hand, there is the National Institute of Drinking Water and Sewerage (INAPA), the National Institute of Hydraulic Resources (INDRHI), the National Housing Institute (INVI), the Corporation of the Aqueduct and Sewerage of Santo Domingo (CAASD), among other entities.
“We have been abused, since in order to meet our contractual obligations with the various State Institutions, and to cover our commitments to workers and suppliers, we have had to invest our savings, as well as incur bank debts, and in most cases, mortgage our homes, having to put properties, machinery and construction equipment, trucks, vans, among others, up for sale,” the members of the CIC explained in a letter delivered to El Inmobiliarioat the beginning of this month.
David's Case
The National Police confirmed that the death on the afternoon of Friday, September 25, 2015, of the architect contractor David Rodríguez García, found with a gunshot wound in the bathroom of the then OISOE, was a suicide.
He revealed that the professional, who had won a raffle for a construction project to remodel the Francisco del Rosario Sánchez elementary school in Peralvillo, Monte Plata, where he was from, incurred external debts with private individuals for about six million pesos, which ended up compromising his earnings.
