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Volume
16,
Number 7 |
Also
in this section:  Martinelli signs the first of two catch-all laws. Photo by the Presidencia Two new laws with potentially far-reaching
economic and environmental consequences
The "Chorizo Laws"
and pending projects by Eric Jackson The National Assembly passed an
omnibus Proposed Law 177, which was signed by the president and
published as Law 30. The procedure of passing a law that deals with
more than one topic at a special legislative session for which the call
did not mention the subject matter of everything in the law is facing a
constitutional challenge in the courts, but at this point it's looking
like the Supreme Court is going to uphold anything that Ricardo
Martinelli wants. Then came Proposed Law 178, with six different
subjects rolled into one, which will likely face a similar challenge. The concept of multiple
ingredients stuffed into the same casing gives rise to the popular term
(or epithet) "Chorizo Law." As in something you may not want to watch
being made. As in, many bits of pork in the mix. But get beyond procedure to
substance and intent on the combination of both of these laws and you
may begin to appreciate why so many people are upset about them. José
Luis Varela, who was the legislature's president for the year that
ended on June 30, cited the new Metro train system for Law 30's
provision exempting "activities, works, or state projects" that the
Cabinet Council deems "of social interest" from the need for an
environmental impact study. He argued that to do such studies would
delay the project by three or four years. It turns out, however, that the
first development project declared to be "of social interest" after the
passage of Law 30 was declared such not by the cabinet but by the
Public Services Authority (ASEP), which gave that designation to the
private Chan 75 hydroelectric project in the Changuinola River
Watershed in Bocas del Toro. The authority used the designation to
allow the AES Changuinola company to enter upon and seize lands that it
does not own for the construction of power lines, provided that a
deposit is made to the authority. The deposit is supposed to be for the
compensation of those affected, in lieu of any legal rights for the
property owners. Of special concern is whether there will be any
compensation at all for collectively held indigenous lands, and if so,
to whom it would be paid. If parts of Law 30 are clearly
designed to crush labor unions, consider that part of Proposed Law 178
(which passed on third and final reading in the legislature on June 24
but had not been published in the Gaceta Oficial to become law at the
time this story was written) requires all non-governmental
organizations to maintain a web page and to compile and publish monthly
reports of their finances online, including the identities of their
sources of funding. This will not be a huge burden on a few of the
larger environmentalist groups (which tend to be the more conservative
ones), but will effectively drive some of the smaller local
environmentalist groups and indigenous organizations that can't afford
webmasters or CPAs into an underground existence. It's clearly a slap
at Martinelli's foes. There are various tax and
gambling law changes in Proposed Law 178, which have detractors and
supporters mainly in accordance with who benefits and who has to pay. Proposed Law 178 also allows
the spending of 35 percent of the principal of the Fiduciary Fund for
Development, which was created from the proceeds of privatization sales
of state-owned enterprises during previous administrations, on
"administrative projects." Some of the Social Security Fund may be
marshalled for such purposes as well, although that's not part of this
recent legislation. First up on the list of
"administrative projects" will be the purchase of the
Corredor Norte and the Corredor Sur, including the completion of the
Corredor Norte and the Colon-Panama Autopista. The Fiduciary Fund was
set up in the Pérez Balladares administration so that governments could
only use the interest, not the principal, but that was violated by both
the Moscoso and Torrijos administration. So, more money for
"administrative projects" pursuant to the second Chorizo Law, and no
environmental impact studies pursuant to the first one. Setting aside
the major issue of private corporate projects now to be declared "in
the social interest" and exempt from most environmental laws, look at
some of the government projects underway or being contemplated:
The big bones of contention, however,
will probably be private strip mining concessions and hydroelectric
dams that are likely to be declared in the "social interest." Those are the developments most likely to displace entire communities by flooding them out or contaminating their water supplies. Still, consider a Martinelli
administration that in its first year saw major policy initiatives
hampered because certain simple issues were not taken into account: a
withdrawal from the Central American Parliament that had to be put off
because the notice requirements in international law were ignored; a
$100 stipend for people age 70 and over without pensions that was
delayed when millionaires started to assert claims and then futher
delayed when means testing was announced but the funding and staffing
to carry that out was not contemplated; denials of easily proven familial and
political relationships with a cousin who's in a Mexican jail on drug
money laundering charges; and so on. Could it be reasonably expected
that such an erratic administration would not make major environmental
blunders in public works projects that are done without studies?
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