By The Star Staff
Over the past few months, the island Education Department (DE) has allegedly been appointing employees in positions of trust and close associates of the New Progressive Party (NPP) to regular career positions without justifiable criteria or merit.
The allegations were made on Tuesday by Popular Democratic Party (PDP) at-large candidate for the House of Representatives, Gabriel López Arrieta, and Sen. Héctor L. Santiago Torres, a PDP candidate for a Senate District 6 (Guayama) seat.
The agency did not immediately answer requests for comment.
The DE has published a list of calls for temporary positions that are being converted into permanent ones with excessive salaries and minimum requirements, the candidates alleged. The Financial Oversight and Management Board itself questioned the permanence granted to 1,032 temporary employees under Law 96 of 2023, warning that the move could rule out meritorious candidates, violating public service reform.
“The highest score in the selection criteria is given to special assistants, thus allowing these employees to be screwed into the DE,” Santiago Torres said. “This displaces honest employees with decades of service in favor of assistants with a few years of experience and disproportionate salaries.”
The appointments are illegal, as the DE’s decentralization plan stipulates that those positions must be temporary, the candidates said. However, they said, due to the “whims” of Education Secretary Yanira Raíces Vega, calls have been opened to convert them into career positions, favoring trust employees.
“The New Progressive Party has transformed the Government of Puerto Rico into a tool for its own benefit, locking in its trust employees with excessive salaries to divert funds toward the party later,” Santiago Torres said. “Not only are they securing positions for their allies, but they are doing so crudely, prioritizing political and personal power over the well-being of the people.”
Meanwhile, the appointments have raised concern due to the high salaries, some exceeding $100,000 annually. The salary increases and the filling of the vacancies represent an expense of more than $2 million for the agency.
“Many of these positions are intended for people with less than five years of experience, which has caused concern among employees with more years of service,” López Arrieta said. “We call on the DE to provide a detailed and transparent explanation of the criteria used to determine these excessive salaries.”
Moreover, the PDP candidates said, without considering the transformation of a smaller but more efficient government, the DE has also created 66 additional positions under the DE Office of Federal Affairs restructuring program that did not exist to benefit more NPP members with permanent jobs and exorbitant salaries.
“The reality is that the DE has been used as the ATH of the NPP,” López Arrieta said. “We call on them not to continue abusing power and using public funds aimed at the education of our children for political-partisan purposes. This represents a clear waste of funds that should be used to improve education. We call for transparency from the Secretary of Education.”
great post, thanks for sharing us. vip concierge barcelona
A very nice blog, I like the way you share very honestly and interestingly, through my blog I learned a lot of things.https://wordleanswertoday.org
The DE has released a list of job postings for temporary positions that are being changed to permanent roles with high salaries and minimal qualifications, according to claims tiny fishing unblocked made by the applicants.
Mr. López Arrieta, and Sen. Santiago Torres complaint although packaged in a more or less veritable form, expose their comical if not cynical approach to governing. Accusing the NNP of nepotism, patronizing or even packing the DE (as well as other government departments) is simply ridiculous when you know they have been doing the same for the last 76 years; thus, crying wolf is a joke or a scream looking for attention to something that every Puerto Rican is aware off.
Better that keep playing the same corrupt and stupid game, they should be proposing solutions to the problems that common Puerto Rican faced on their daily lives. Mr. López Arrieta, and Sen. Santiago Torres, perhaps you should use whatever…