The opposition benches have undertaken the strategy of breaking the quorum in the pension reform sessions to block its process. Given the strategy, Senator Inti Asprilla announced that he will denounce those who do not attend the debates and sent a message to those in his own party.
Asprilla’s call came in the middle of the beginning of the Senate plenary session in which it was intended to discuss the project “Through which the comprehensive social protection system for old age is established”, scheduled for 11:00 am on March 6, the same day of the marches called by the opposition.
At the beginning of the plenary session there were several empty chairs. “The outlook at this time is bleak, I see with concern the high probability that today we will not be able to remove the impediments either,” said Senator Asprilla before the few congressmen who were in the elliptical hall.
Although there were about 95 senators who responded to the roll call, when voting on the impediments, only half were present, so a decision-making quorum was not formed, that is, the minimum number of votes to validate the result.
Given this panorama, Senator Asprilla announced that he will look for a counter strategy to what the opposition has undertaken, to be absent from the votes, and prevent the process of the pension reform, which has already been going on for three sessions at the same point, from continuing. .
“I am going to be absolutely forceful in denouncing those who do not comply with their constitutional obligation to come to work. I will start by informing citizens which senators from my party, the Green Alliance, are or are not coming to vote on the pension reform,” Asprilla said.
The call was also directed to those who made up the List of Hope, of which the Green party was part in 2022 for the Congressional elections. “I will inform the citizens without any consideration which senators of the Historical Pact attend or do not attend to process the pension reform,” the congressman announced.
Asprilla pointed out that assistance will also follow to the liberal congressmen, the former allies of the Government in the La U bench and some conservatives, of whom he said there are still some who accompany the government initiatives.
“Obviously I don’t expect anyone from the Democratic Center, much less from Cambio Radical; But citizens should know who wants to even give it a debate, to fulfill their constitutional duty, to find a solution, which had never been considered, for the millions of elderly who have to go out on the streets to seek sustenance by selling in a hut ( street vendors),” Asprilla stated.
Vice President María José Pizarro, who led the plenary session, decided to adjourn the session after several minutes waiting for the votes necessary to define the impediments to be recorded. Thus, the session was scheduled for March 12, in order to advance the voting on articles of the pension reform.
Senator Asprilla also sent a message to his co-partisan Jota Pe Hernández, who was part of the opposition demonstrations, despite being part of a Government bench. In his publication, the congressman invited other of his colleagues to declare whether they really support the current administration.
“I am not outraged or angry that JP goes out to march with Uribistas, those who voted for him should analyze their decision. I also think that others in the party should follow his example and come clean once and for all. PS: It is also clear that we can no longer be in the same party,” Asprilla wrote. With Infobae