The project returned to the Assembly’s health table for the preparation of the report for the second and final debate.
The National Assembly, this January 11, processed in the first debate the bill for the management of the health emergency due to the pandemic caused by COVID-19 and its variants.
Twenty legislators took part in the debate, which focused on questioning the Executive for not submitting a bill on this matter, as ordered by the Constitutional Court; establish fines for citizens and businesses that do not observe the provisions of the authorities to stop infections and the powers that the provincial and national operations committees will have.
The project seeks to establish the provisions for the management of the COVID-19 pandemic and its variants, in which the right to life and health is guaranteed, regulating the limitations of transit and assembly and inviolability of residence.
Almost two years after the pandemic National Assembly debates law for the management of the health emergency
It establishes sanctions for non-compliance with capacity in shopping centers, commercial premises, supermarkets, restaurants and other commercial activities, for which fines of two basic salaries are established for the first time and until the closure of the establishment.
The sanctions related to meetings and crowds will be applied to those attending the events, ranging from community work cleaning the public space to a fine of three unified basic salaries.
Jhon Vinueza, from Unión Ecuatoriana, said that the discussion project is putting the weight and the blame of the pandemic on the citizen, since the statistics determine that the waves of infections occur after holidays and massive events. “And who dictates the holidays?” He asked; therefore, he said that the answer is not to punish citizens, but to be clear with the citizen. Therefore, he proposed that the fines be eliminated.
Marcela Holguín (UNES) questioned whether the project includes fines, when people do not have the resources to eat and buy medicines; It is a project that does not understand the magnitude of what the country faces due to the pandemic.
The correista for Pichincha said that the country needs an institution that acts in a timely manner, but not only in cases of health crisis caused by the COVID-19 pandemic and its variants, but also for other types of emergencies, which have not yet you know what will come.
Esteban Torres, coordinator of the PSC, warned that this bill that was born from the National Assembly and not from the Executive, as established by the Constitutional Court, could later be declared unconstitutional. He also invited to review the entire sentence of the Court to avoid legislative excesses with respect to a pandemic law. He said that article one of the project is poorly raised.
He noted that the Ministry of Health is not publishing the numbers of infections on the web, and that the project is giving the attribution to that secretariat for the establishment of emergency zones. He also said that excessive power is being given to the national and provincial Emergency Operations Committee.
The legislator Rafael Lucero (PK) commented that this project is important to avoid the abuse of states of exception; defended that the text propose fines for those who do not observe the measures taken to control infections; fines are necessary, because “we must recognize that Ecuadorians are spoiled.”
Xavier Santos, from the ID, stated that the law must regulate the powers of the national COE, and stated that the responsibility of the presidency of the national COE cannot be delegated to an institution that is in charge of monitoring cameras, such as the ECU-911.
At the discretion of Assemblyman Santos, the first president should never have delegated the presidency of the national COE, since he is responsible for handling the public emergency and even should have delegated the vice president of the Republic. (I)
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