Ruling party leader scolds main ally over government posts

Santo Domingo.- Senate vice president Dionis Sánchez on Thurs. urged president Danilo Medina to put a stop to “the wave of layoffs” of ruling party (PLD) members, who are then replaced by leaders of the pro-government party, PRD.

The senator from Pedernales (west) said hundreds of PLD leaders and rank-and-file were terminated in the Foreign Ministry, the Ministry of Women, the Port Authority and other agencies.

“They, of the PRD who are managing these institutions, must understand that they are there because they were designated by president Danilo Medina,…” he said.

“It is necessary to remind the president of that party, Miguel Vargas Maldonado, and call the attention of party (PLD) president, Leonel Fernández Reyna, general secretary, Reinaldo Pared Pérez, and president Danilo Medina, that an agreement was signed with the PRD not to cancel hundreds of fellow PLDs who work in the institutions that are headed by PRDs,” Sánchez said.

The lawmaker warned against blaming it on a ballooned payroll, “because they’ve been replaced by PRD leaders.”