The DR1 Daily News will not be updated on Monday, 21 January, a national holiday. The 21st commemorates La Altagracia Day, honoring Our Lady of Highest Grace. Headline news will be compiled for the Tuesday, 22 January issue. Breaking news and comments may be posted throughout the break on the DR1 Forums at dr1.com/forums, which are updated 24/7.
The main recommendation of the day long DR Economic Perspectives Seminar organized by the Ministry of Economy, Planning and Development on the occasion of its first year anniversary celebration was that the government needed to increase spending on education. Panel members called on the extra spending to be monitored, as with spending in private business, to ensure a quantum leap in the quality of Dominican education. Economic consultant Carlos Asilis stressed that there was a need to improve the quality of Dominican education, adopting common sense protocols to monitor the service in the same way as in the private sector. Former Central Bank governor Bernardo Vega described education as the DR's greatest problem. He stressed that with public school students only attending school for an average of 2.5 hours per day, the DR cannot keep up with the competition. He warned that if Cuba opts for a Vietnamese economic model, the DR would suffer even more, because the Cuban population is highly educated. Vega said that the DR has lost jobs in the manufacturing sector due to the high wages but low-skilled labor. Former Central Bank governor Carlos Despradel also called for improvements in the educational system in order to achieve greater work productivity. Isidoro Santana also said that social spending needed to be increased to improve human skills and that this should not be limited to producing propaganda about government spending on education. Santana said that the country's greatest failure is that while international surveys show the low quality of Dominican students, the public seems to be satisfied with what it is getting, which he concludes is just a reflection of the general population's low education levels.
Agriculture Minister Salvador Jimenez welcomed the decision made by Puerto Rico to lift its temporary ban on importing Dominican chickens and expressed hopes that Haiti would soon follow suit. PR authorities had banned Dominican chicken exports last week after cases of Avian flu were detected in fighting cocks in Higuey and Santiago. Jimenez said that investigations by the health authorities revealed that there wasn't a bird flu outbreak, which led to the lifting of the ban.
Councilors in Bani have revoked the lease contract for 56,987 square meters of land after an investigation revealed that it was located within a protected area and scientific reserve known as the Dunes. The municipality had previously authorized the Ciramar International company to use the area. Listin Diario investigative reports exposed the case, and an investigation was ordered. Pending is another contested transaction, the sale of 35,000m2 in an adjacent area for RD$10.7 million, which is also being challenged by community groups and environmental organizations on the same grounds. The transactions were authorized by Presidential Decree 450-06, which was signed by President Leonel Fernandez.
The Dominican Republic is the country with the lowest labor flexibility in the region. This ranks the DR among the worst in the world, according to the 2008 "Doing Business" report, released by the World Bank. The report places the DR in 32nd place on a list of 100 countries on the employment rigidity scale. The rigidity of employment index rates countries according to difficulty of hiring, rigidity of hours and difficulty of firing.
The DR also has the highest non-wage labor costs (% of salary) in the region, equivalent to 144% of the salary and has one of the worst rates for firing costs, equivalent to 88 weeks of wages. Even though the country has made some improvements, the DR is ranked fourth worst in the region in terms of the general business climate, the countries scoring less being Guyana, Suriname and Haiti. The report does highlight some of the DR's advances in the area of business like the reduction of the number of days (from 72 days to 22 days) that it takes to start a business. The report also highlights the time it takes (from 107 days to 60 days) to register property in the DR. Still, the DR has a long way to go if it is to improve its rankings, including reduction of taxes that increased by 3.7%. For more information on the report, click here (PDF document): www.doingbusiness.org/Documents/CountryProfiles/DOM.pdf
Interest rates on Dominican deposits are at around 7-8%, but with the Central Bank announcing a year-end inflation rate of 8.8%, Dominicans are barely keeping the value of their deposits, as reported in Diario Libre. Central Bank reports indicate that the average rate paid for 30-day certificates was 6.26%, for 60-day certificates 6.62%, and 6.98% for 90-day certificates. 180-day certificates were paying 7.49% and 7.71% for certificates that have been deposited for a year.
According to National Statistics Office director, Pablo Tactuk, there are 9.7 million registered Dominicans and this number should reach 10 million by 2010. Tactuk added that this figure did not include the number of Haitians in the country. Projections indicate that there could be 11.2 million Dominicans by 2020. He explained that the slow growth of the population is due to the increased participation of women in the labor market. Tactuk made his comments during the XI Inter-institutional Conference on the National Statistics System. The topic of the Conference was "Dominican Republic: population estimates and projections, 1950-2050. The director said that the next census would be conducted in 2010. According to the report, life expectancy between 2005 and 2010 should be 72.24 years.
PRSC presidential candidate Amable Aristy Castro has challenged President Leonel Fernandez and PRD presidential candidate Miguel Vargas Maldonado to a debate where all three would discuss the 10 main issues affecting the country. Aristy explained that among the topics on his agenda are poverty, cost of living, unemployment, safety, crime, the energy crisis, education and health. Aristy, quoted in Hoy, said that the debate would allow the public to hear each candidate's proposals and solutions. Aristy added that civil society and media outlets could organize the debate, and said that he was pleased that the two major presidential candidates have excluded him from their "corruption and who insults better" contest. Aristy is quoted as saying, "Dominicans don't want to know who is more or less corrupt, or who is more or less rich, or how they got their fortunes. They want to hear how candidates will solve their problems".
Vargas Maldonado is also promoting the debate. Notwithstanding, spokespersons for President Leonel Fernandez have not expressed any interest in their candidate taking part.
Fernandez is known to be by far the best speaker of the three leading candidates.
Dominican residents in Spain will now be able to renew as well as driving with their Dominican driver's licenses there, thanks to a new agreement signed between the DR and Spain, as reported in Listin Diario. So far 14,000 Dominicans have benefited from this agreement. In order to make this possible, the Dominican Public Works Office, through the Motor Vehicle Department, installed its first renewals office in Madrid. An estimated 30,000 Dominicans in Spain will apply for the licenses. The office will be open from 2pm to 7pm, Monday through Friday. Renewal will cost between EUR150 and EUR200.
Thousands of Dominican women have moved to Spain to work as housekeepers. The driver's license decision opens doors for these to also secure employment, many times in the same household.
The motorbike taxi, or 'motoconcho' is the leading transportation method in the country, according to Marino del Rosario Caraballo, director of the National Motoconcho Office (Onam). The three-month old office is affiliated to the Land Transport Office (OTTT). According to del Rosario, 632,000 people are registered as motoconcho taxi operators. He estimates that another 400,000 could be providing the service informally, bringing the total to about a million providers. He told Clave newspaper that this means that the motoconcho is the main mode of transport in the country. In contrast, buses and taxis total just 700,000 nationwide. "I would say that they are also one of the leading consumers of fuel, because each motorbike consumes on average about a gallon of gasoline per day," he said, commenting on the inefficiency of relying on motoconchos. Researcher Sergio Catalino Martinez, of Ciudad Alternativa, said the motocochos reflect the DR's under development and backwardness. He said that people choose this job because of lack of better options for making a living, the disorderly growth of cities and the deficiencies of organized transport systems. He said that motoconcho transport began in the barrios of Herrera but quickly spread to the barrios in the north of the capital and on to towns and rural communities throughout the country.
If you're visiting the Dominican mountain town of Constanza this winter, be sure to bring a warm coat. According to reports, temperatures are just a few degrees above freezing in the morning. This means, if you would like to make a contribution to the town, bring down your out-of-fashion coats. The people of Constanza will appreciate them. Clave reports that midnight temperatures in Constanza hover around nine degrees, but that they have frequently dropped to six degrees in the early morning. Residents of the El Convento area of Constanza say that there are places where the temperature drops to zero. They can tell by riverbanks freezing and frost. Francisco Radhames Perez, a farmer, says that there have been one or two freezes in the past, but he estimates that it has already happened four times this year. El Convento is in the Juan Bautista Perez Rancier National Park, where Valle Nuevo and Alto Bandera, well known for being the coldest parts of the country, are located. Temperatures in Alto Bandera have fallen to zero this January.
Clave newspaper says the lowest temperatures in the country could be occuring at the top of Duarte Peak, the highest in the Caribbean, but this is not registered because there is no weather measuring equipment there. Those heading to the peak should keep this in mind, and prepare for the extreme cold temperatures. This is peak time for visits to the mountain top.
Former ONAMET director, Antonio Cocco Quezada attributed this year's freezing temperatures to the weather phenomenon known as La Nina. He recalls that the temperature has dropped to -3C in Constanza in previous years, saying that these low temperatures are normal for the area. Cocco mentioned that La Romana reported a 12.8C temperature in the early hours of Tuesday, 16 January. This beats the previous record of 14C in 1976.
Ten people are still missing after the boat they used in an attempt to make an illegal crossing to Puerto Rico capsized on Monday, reportedly near the beaches of Uvero Alto and Macao on the east coast. The Dominican Navy and US Coast Guard crews took part in the rescue operation. So far five people have been rescued, while two dead bodies were also recovered from the 17-foot boat in the Mona Passage. A sports fishing charter boat rescued two men and one woman on Wednesday morning. The survivors had managed to stay afloat by holding onto five-gallon water containers off Cabo Engano, the easternmost tip of the country. According to reports, passengers had paid RD$20,000 for the crossing.
The Navy and US Coast Guard estimates that last year 1,300 trips were successfully completed, while they were able to intercept 4,485 people who attempted the trips. They confiscated 467 boats in 2007, and 347 boat-trip organizers were prosecuted.
A replica of Leonardo Da Vinci's La Gioconda (Mona Lisa) painting, which was part of a collection of replicas of Louvre masterpieces on display in an open space gallery around the Gran Cibao Theater in Santiago, is missing. The exhibition is sponsored by the French Embassy and features a collection of high-quality photographic reproductions of works dating from the XVIIIth to the XIXth centuries, including paintings by Van Eyck, Arcimboldo, Metsys, Rafael, El Greco, Zurbaran, Goya and Benoist. The exhibition was first shown around Santo Domingo's Independence Park.
Flomar is advertising clothing sales at its El Conde store.
La Cadena supermarket is advertising sales in its meat and fish department.
Superpola is advertising sales in its meat and seafood departments.
Bravo Supermarket has 20% reductions in its fish and seafood department, 15% on pork products, and 10% off beef.
La Nacional furniture store is advertising sofa sales.
The Tigres couldn't even make a game out of it and outfielder Edwin Encarnacion made sure of that. The outfielder hit a three-run shot in the first inning, giving the Aguilas a lead they would not relinquish. The Aguilas continued punishing pitcher Randy Leek and any other Licey pitcher, and eventually put up five more runs on the board, giving the Aguilas an 8-3 victory. Veteran Luis Polonia also pushed in two runs and Rafael Furcal had a R.B.I. single in the eighth. Infielder Miguel Tejada did not play, as he is still recovering from the death of his brother Freddy. The schedule for the playoffs is as follows: Friday, 17 January in Santiago at 8pm, on Saturday, 19 January in Santo Domingo at 7:30pm, Sunday, 20 January in Santiago at 5pm, and Monday, 21 January in Santo Domingo at 5pm. Tuesday, 22 January is a day off. The games then continue on Wednesday, 23 January in Santiago at 8pm, Thursday, 24 January in Santo Domingo at 7:30pm, Friday, 25 January in Santiago at 8pm, and Saturday, 26 January in Santo Domingo at 7:30pm.
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