BOGOTA. In the resumption this Wednesday of the second day of voting for the National Development Plan in the plenary sessions of both legislative chambers, the plenary session of the Camera approved that the recommendations of the truth commission become instruments of public order for the government.
This was celebrated by the new interior minister, Luis Fernando Velascoattended the discussion in the House of Representatives of the Board’s roadmap for the next four years.
The truth commission summarized the dozens of recommendations it made in the measures to “seek peace that puts at the center respect for life and dignity and realizes a good life for all, which should be the main priority for Colombia”.
The entity set up after the Havana agreement added at the time that “the Commission’s recommendations seek to help define a future agenda that will allow progress in dialogues on fundamental issues and lay the foundations for reconciliation, peace and no repetition”.
Among the recommendations appearing in the final report of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission are, among others: the separation of the police and the Ministry of Defense, the establishment of a Ministry of Peace and Reconciliation and the phasing out of the obligation to serve military personnel.
However, in the discussion in the Senate, Senator Paloma Valencia, from the Democratic Center, gave a strong warning: “Property taxes would rise in Colombia because of an article in the Development Plan. An automatic update of the land registers is coming, and with it property taxes. And they didn’t want due process and the right to adversarial that citizens should have.”
And in this sense, Valencia states that Article 43 will be deleted, which indicates: “The Agustín Codazzi Geographical Institute will apply methodologies and models for the mass updating of lagging cadastral values, which will allow a one-time automatic adjustment of the cadastral valuations. all properties in the country, except those which have undergone cadastral formation or updating during the last five years prior to the issuance of this Act or whose formation or updating is under development at the date of issue, with the economic reality of this, correct tax disparities and improve territorial planning”.
Amid the marathon debates on the Development Plan in plenary sessions of the House of Representatives and the Senate, which began at least in the upper house in the morning and ended before midnight last Tuesday, important articles have already been approved and one or the other company has sunk.
For example, the article founding Popular Public Initiative Associations was maintained, as a form of association for the development of road infrastructure, education, environmental, agricultural and public service projects. Likewise, the one that will enable the National Government to co-finance more than 70 percent of rail projects of mass public transport of passengers.
But the one who promoted the replacement of the use of firewood with domestic natural gas service throughout the country fell, even if it was an imported product. And the point where extraordinary powers were granted to the President of the Republic for the creation of the National Agency for Digital Security and Space, a decentralized entity, also came to an end.
It was decided to maintain Article 351 of the PND, which provides for the direct transfer of care resources to hospitals, without intervention. And there was the repeal of Article 218 that allowed for vertical integration in energy matters, as well as the article that raised a maximum 6 percent tax on solar and wind power.
Likewise, the one that allows the concession of forest reserves for 30 years for peasant organizations was saved.
This Wednesday, both debates will continue in the chambers, which hope to evacuate the articles on this day so that the conciliation can be voted on on Friday, as the development plan must be approved before May 7.
Source: El Heraldo
Emma Fitzgerald is an accomplished political journalist and author at The Nation View. With a background in political science and international relations, she has a deep understanding of the political landscape and the forces that shape it.
