PDP leader: Domenech’s citation is internal NPP power play.

Popular Democratic Party President Pablo José Hernández Rivera, at lectern

By THE STAR STAFF

Popular Democratic Party (PDP) President Pablo José Hernández Rivera charged on Monday that the island Senate’s upcoming Committee of the Whole hearing -- where La Fortaleza Chief of Staff Francisco Domenech Fernández must appear -- is the result of an internal struggle over government contracts within the New Progressive Party (NPP), rather than a genuine effort to address corruption.

“Thomas Rivera Schatz didn’t just wake up one morning with the urge to combat corruption,” Hernández Rivera said during a press conference. “This is a fight over contracts.”

He argued that Rivera Schatz acted because “his lobbyists, his people, were not profiting within the world of contracted favors that the NPP has established with the arrogance of a party that has already been in the governorship for three terms.”

Hernández Rivera agreed with Gov. Jenniffer González Colón’s assessment that the Senate president’s motivations for convening the Committee of the Whole are political, aligning his remarks with her earlier critique.

“What is scheduled for tomorrow didn’t need to wait until tomorrow. Many of these allegations have been raised for a long time,” he said. “The way the Senate president now wants to address them seems to reflect a personal political ambition.”

The PDP president and island resident commissioner added that if the hearing reveals information that could trigger federal referrals, “and if jurisdiction exists, there could be serious consequences.”

Hernández Rivera’s comments came after a meeting with the PDP Legislative Conference, in which party leaders endorsed 10 policy measures they say will address affordability, healthcare access and infrastructure resilience.