Assembly set to defy presidential veto

The bill of law providing for the construction of decent housing for teachers working in remote, rural areas, will be brought back to the National Assembly floor. Assembly Member for the PRD, Irasema de Dale, who sponsored the bill, confirmed that she will “”fight to the bitter end for the approval of law 18”, after President Juan Carlos Varela unexpectedly shot it down. Law 18 is intended to supplement organic law 47 of 1946.

Ms de Dale could hardly hide her shock upon learning of the presidential snub. “I simply could not believe it” she exclaimed, adding that “the presidential reasons seem overly technical and disreagard the just goal of providing decent housing to education workers who already make many a sacrifice”.

Article 1 of the proposed bill aimed to modify article 217 of the organic law in the following manner: “The Education Ministry will assume the responsibility for the provision of decent housing for those education workers who exercise their duties in remote and rural areas”. It would appear that the bone of contention centred on the definition of “decent housing”.

Though the government technical concern may have its merits, Teacher Representative Diogenes Sanchez argues that “this is just an excuse for the government to drag their feet over a promise that is already long overdue”. National Assembly member Irasema de Dale declared she was quite happy to change the terminology “from housing to dorms”, if that solved the issue.

In recent media declarations, Marcela Herrera, an architect for the Education Ministry, highlighted a government project setting aside $42 million to provide rural schools with proper buildings. In reference to the televised announcement,  Mr Lopez wondered: “couldn’t they simply include teachers’ quarters in the school building project?”.