President Ricardo Martinelli wants to do away with the Comptroller General of the Republic’s practice of spending screening in the appropriation of public funds. “Previous or posterior control is irrelevant because if there are corrupt officials, they will steal sooner or later,” he justified. The president stressed that no one can answer for the...
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While protesting in Via Transistmica, Panama’s retirees received word that they will receive the $50 a month increase they have been requesting through daily protests. According to Eladio Fernandez, head of the Independent Retiree Association, a Presidency spokesman told him that no one will stop the increase, and the government is just looking for...
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Rio Abajo representative, Javier Ortega, and Deputy Sergio “Chello” Galvez exchanged insults on Thursday. Galvez criticized Ortega for being the sole supporter of Mayor Bosco Vallarino in Panama’s Municipal Council and said the representative has a potato in his mouth. Ortega countered by saying that he eats the potato and does not have one...
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Journalists and Panama newspaper guild members formed a human chain around noon on Wednesday in defense of freedom of expression. Near the former Dante Mansion on 50th Street – not far from the razed Obarrio Green Lung – they held signs and shouted: “Journalists united will never be defeated.” The journalists, joined by academics...
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In response to the persistent demands of Panama’s retirees, President Martinelli unilaterally said that he would give them their $50 increase out of the $33.7 budgeted for the 2009 to 2014 electoral subsidy. “There cannot be such a questionable subsidy with needs as those of the retirees,” the President said. Political party representatives, who...
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