Dominican Republic lawmakers ping-pong national park bill

Santo Domingo.- The Senate on Wed. sent the bill that declares Loma Miranda National Park to Committee, a decision which will annul the proposal, since the current legislature ends June 26, and instead will submit its draft when the lawmakers return on August 16.

The Senators decided to keep their amendments to the original bill, arguing that the version passed in the Chamber of Deputies violates the Constitution.

Senate president Reinaldo Pared promised that the bill, as they evaluated it, will be submitted again August 16, when this year’s second legislature starts.

La Vega senator Euclides Sánchez, one of the National Park’s main promoters, asked his colleagues not to pass the bill because in his view, the version passed in the lower Chamber wouldn’t have any validity.

"To ours, and the country’s surprise the bill wasn’t fairly assessed by the deputies. They didn’t give the technicians any opportunity to clear up their doubts whatsoever and instead passed it in a hasty manner and a lack of prudence," Sanchez said.