Yesmin Valdivieso gives his turn to the Office of the Electoral Comptroller in a complaint from the PPD for use of phrase

The comptroller Yesmin Valdivieso will not intervene in the complaint filed by the Popular Democratic Party (PPD) for the alleged misuse of public funds in announcements and activities of the government of Pedro Pierluisi in which the phrase “making things happen” is included, until the Office of the Electoral Comptroller (OCE) concludes its investigation and determines if there is any violation of law.

“Someone has to determine that it is, in fact, a political ad. “In the event that it is determined that it is a political ad, well, then, we will have to do an accounting of how much money has been spent on ads… if the entire ad is determined to be political or if it is only part of the ad,” he said. to The new day the controller via telephone.

He added that, after receiving the complaint, he sent a letter to the PPD electoral commissioner, KarIa AngIero Gonzalezexplaining why the OCE has primary jurisdiction over the matter.

“We recognize that the OCE is the entity with the jurisdiction, competence and knowledge necessary to address your complaint. Therefore, at this time, we will refrain from investigating the claims in your communication.”read the five-page letter, to which this media had access.

The complaint in question was submitted on October 3. That day, the president of the PPD, Jesus Manuel Ortizargued that the phrase “making things happen,” which is used by the government, is very similar to one used in the campaigns of Pierluisi and the resident commissioner in Washington, Jennifer Gonzalezin the 2020 elections.

According to Ortiz, this is “a clear violation” of the Law for the Supervision of the Financing of Political Campaigns (Law 222 of 2011).

Asked why the Comptroller’s Office cannot carry out a parallel investigation, considering that it supervises the proper use of public funds, Valdivieso insisted that the OCE must determine, first, the legality of the advertisements and the use of the phrase.

“In our government scheme, it is up to the electoral comptroller to determine whether the announcement is political. If they say ‘it’s not my turn because it’s not an election year’, or if they tell me ‘(the announcement) is not (political)’, well I could still go in and determine. But things have to be done in the order and in the scheme that the politicians themselves wrote in the political law, in the electoral law.”he asserted.

“But, if the ad is not political, what am I going to investigate if the ad is determined not to be political? What am I supposed to investigate?,” she questioned.

According to Valdivieso, if any illegality is determined, reimbursement for the improper use of public funds and a referral to the Justice Department.

For his part, the electoral comptroller, Walter Velezhe limited himself to saying that his “office is evaluating the complaint that was filed and, once the evaluation is done, we will determine about it”.

Regarding Valdivieso’s expressions that it is up to him to act, Velez indicated that “the function of the OCE is to supervise all the funds that are collected for political campaigns, which, although it is true that public funds cannot be used for campaigns policies, there are government agencies that are dedicated to supervising State funds.”