The amount of the lifetime pensions of the former presidents of the Republic would be reduced by about $1,268 per month, which corresponds to 25% less than the value currently received by former presidents, according to a bill that the National Assembly processed in the first debate, this February 15.
Currently, the norm establishes that the former presidents of the Republic receive a monthly life pension equivalent to 75% of the current remuneration of the president of the Republic, that is, $3,804, considering that the remuneration as of January 2022 of the president is located at $ 5,072, according to the transparency portal of the presidency’s website.
In the case of the former vice presidents of the Republic, the life pension would be reduced by $1,217.25, which corresponds to 25% less than the current monthly remuneration of the second president, which according to the web portal is located at $4,869.
Approved change in payment of life pensions would reach Rafael Correa and Jorge Glas
If the bill is approved, in the second and final debate, from now on the ex-presidents would receive a monthly life pension equivalent to fifty percent (50%) of the current remuneration.
What is discussed by the legislators is about a project that reforms articles 135 and 136 of the organic law of public service, related to the pension regime of former presidents and former vice presidents of the Republic, which compiles 12 projects presented from December 2018 to July 2021.
The reform proposal seeks to reduce the lifetime pension benefit that former Ecuadorian presidents and vice presidents receive to date under austerity criteria implemented from the crisis caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, and establish the delivery of said benefit exclusively to the beneficiaries established by the Organic Law of Public Service.
In addition, they seek to expand the grounds for suspension and termination of the life pension benefit to former presidents and vice presidents in accordance with the grounds for dismissal prescribed by the Constitution and the Law of the Legislative Function.
For this reason, former presidents whose mandate is revoked would not be beneficiaries; who have been terminated from their functions due to abandonment of the position; have been dismissed by the National Assembly for assuming functions that are not constitutionally incumbent upon it, with the prior favorable opinion of the Constitutional Court; who has been dismissed by the National Assembly due to serious economic crisis and internal commotion; and, who had not completed the period for which he was elected because he had been sentenced for crimes of embezzlement, bribery, extortion, illicit enrichment, crimes against life, crimes against humanity, against public faith or sexual assault or violence.
According to the text, under discussion, in case of death, the benefit of the life pension in favor of former presidents and former vice presidents will pass to the spouse or partner in a legally recognized de facto union. In the absence of the spouse or common-law partner, the minor children of the direct beneficiaries will be entitled to such benefit until they reach the age of majority.
The beneficiaries who to date receive temporary or lifetime pensions for having been former presidents and former vice presidents of the Republic or in cases of death of the main beneficiary, are currently received by the spouse or common-law partner or their children, whose origin is prior to the entry into force of the public service law published in Official Gazette No. 294, dated October 6, 2010, they will continue to receive the full amount of their monthly pensions until the date of their death.
The project processed in the first debate will return to the Commission on the Right to Work and Social Security for the report of the second debate, where it must collect the observations presented in plenary, since some assembly members spoke for the elimination of life pensions of former presidents . (I)
Source: Eluniverso
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