The lawyer Delia Ferreira Rubio referred to the increase in the senators’ diet by maintaining that “it is not strange to suppose that there was an agreement of “I vote for the ambassadors and then you play dumb and let me vote for the increase.”.
“The clear attempt by all the senators and the vice president, and well, the secretary follows orders, to hide what they were voting for.” It was absolutely embarrassing.”, stated the consultant on Institutional Issues and Anti-Corruption.
Córdoba senators propose reversing salary increase after controversial vote
Explanation
“In the National Congress, when a motion is proposed, a topic is discussed, a discussion begins or a vote begins, the file number and the topic or question that is going to be debated are indicated,” he explained.
“If you see yesterday’s session, in the entire session that lasted about two hours and a bit, that’s how it was done. They talked about the file number and the topics. For example, there was a file where military promotions were agreed upon, where the secretary read name by name. The same when ambassadors are approved, name by name,” he added in statements to Miter Córdoba.
“The only issue that was discussed without saying what it was about in the face of silence from all the senators who were sitting on their benches was the embarrassing increase of more than 100 percent of the diet of these senators.said the specialist.
“Agreement”
“Everything was agreed upon, this is evident to anyone I know and who has been in the National Congress for so many years. “I spent 15 years alternating between the two chambers in the Constitutional Affairs commissions,” he said.
And then he added: “I have spent hours in the chambers of both chambers in the discussions. He was embarrassing. “This is the product of an agreement, 48 seconds to count two votes, not even Mandrake can count the votes.”
He also recalled that “when you are a senator and we have seen it many times, if you do not agree with something, you say so, you raise your hand, you start shouting in the Senate, you stop and gesture. “They were all sitting, quiet.”
“Everyone knew and everyone agreed. And knowing parliamentary practices, it is evident that here there was an agreement of ‘I’ll vote for the ambassadors and then you play dumb and let me vote for the increase.’ An increase that is for everyone,” emphasized Ferreira Rubio.
Victoria Villarruel defended the senators’ salary increase: “It is perfectly legal and I had no tools to stop it.”
Arguments
“Many times I hear senators and representatives in these circumstances say ‘I’m going to donate the excess.’ That is not admissible because donating means that it has already entered into their assets and that they do what they want, they donate it to whoever they want,” he argued.
And then he continued: “What they have to do is return it if they are really aware and consistent with the context of the country and respect the citizens. They must return it. If there is no procedure, invent it, if they are really consistent with what they say in the media and on social networks, because they did not say ‘no’ at the time they should have said it.”
“Permanente”
“The resolution that was voted on has a paragraph and they had it on their benches and they knew the day before that it was going to be voted on,” he indicated.
For Ferreira Rubio “it is ridiculous to want to hide in the 21st century what is being done in the Senate, it is of an innocence bordering on foolishness.”
“As soon as it was known, you would have seen that everyone was trying to calculate how much the increase was. The resolution is worded in such a way that it would also be obscure. An amount is not stated. They talk about the modules, and this and that, and beyond,” she expressed in relation to the percentage of the increase.
Increase in the Senate 🧵
1. Evident agreement of ALL blocks. None of the Senators supposedly against asked to speak, nor did they ask for a roll-call vote, nor did they ask for a recount of the votes. (Other times they scream so much!!)— Delia Ferreira (@DeliaFerreira) April 18, 2024
“This is not a resolution to be increased now, this is a permanent resolution for years to come until the senators decide to change it that connects them with the increases that are granted to the employees of the chamber, through the joint agreements of the corresponding state employees,” he closed in a critical tone.