Government to turn to Constitutional 2% if Alianza votes against Transantiago subsidy

SANTIAGO. -  Although the plan of the Executive Branch is to find resources for Transantiago by way of an ongoing subsidy, the Vice-President of the Republic, Edmundo Pérez Yoma, has admitted that if rejected by the Alianza in Parliament, the government will once again turn to the Constitutional 2% reserved for public calamities.

“We have never thought of the 2% as a permanent or definitive solution, we have insisted again and again upon a subsidy for public transportation and we continue to insist upon this.  Now, if the opposition denies us the resources, obviously that would be a calamity and as such, we will use the 2%”, Pérez Yoma stated.

After arriving at La Moneda this morning, Pérez Yoma brought up the current situation facing the capital city’s transportation system after the National Comptroller, Ramiro Mendoza, stated yesterday that if the government once again needs to use the constitutional 2%, the Comptroller’s Office will have to analyze and approve the grounds upon which it is being requested again.

“If the evidence they bring before us and the reasoning presented by the authorities to justify such a decree is in accordance with the law, we will process it; if that is not the case, we will not”, stated Mendoza, who appeared before the Chamber of Deputies commission in charge of investigating the credit issued by the BID for Transantiago.