Panama President Mulino Guarantees Home Construction in Veraguas and Herrera. ‘Everyone Will Have a Home’.

This is part of the first phase, which includes the first 2,700 houses that the Government will build for families who lost their homes, a number that will increase according to the contracting program and the inspection process. President Mulino pictured below is touring southern Soná and inspecting homes under construction.

Veraguas: The President of the Republic, José Raúl Mulino, is on a working tour in the Llano Grande sector, in Veraguas, where the Ministry of Housing and Territorial Planning began the construction of 20 of 154 homes for families affected by the past earthquake in this area.

“We’re going to start with the houses that are being built to special specifications. The houses are going up; everyone will have a house,” the president stated.

According to the report, the tour also includes Ocú and Pesé. The president visited affected areas, houses under construction, shelters, the collection center, and the church where medical outreach is being conducted to serve the population, primarily children and the elderly.  In the Quegrada Grande sector, south of Soná, Mulino visited the rebuilt home of Mrs. Doris Sánchez, the first beneficiary in the region. In this community, it is estimated that 15 homes will be rebuilt; 8 are currently under construction.’

We’re getting out of each house in about two weeks, and that’s what people want: their homes. Someone asked me about the school that is affected and all these children can’t go, but the most important thing is home. We’re going to get out of the houses first, and then we’ll bring the schools back in the summer, because classes aren’t the problem.  I ask everyone to be patient, everyone will have their homes back, there’s no doubt about that,” he emphasized.

These are homes included in the first phase, which includes 2,700 houses that the Government will build for families who lost their homes, a number that will increase according to the contracting program and the inspection process.  He is accompanied on his tour by First Lady Maricel Cohen de Mulino and Ministers Fernando Boyd (Health), Jaime Jované (Miviot), José Ramón Icaza (Secretary of Goals) and the Governor of Veraguas, Ildemarta Riera. 

Budget.

On the other hand, the President of the Republic referred to the discussions of the General State Budget for the fiscal year 2027 and the proposal that reached the National Assembly to regulate the exceptions of the Public Procurement Law, but within the Budget Bill 644.  The initiative, signed in the early hours of Thursday, October 29, by deputies Benicio Robinson and Luis Eduardo Camacho, among others, proposes changes to article 370 regarding public service companies and institutions.  “As Minister Chapman said, that’s not a proposal from the Executive branch, but the truth is that I’m involved in this today,” Mulino said. 

The original text of the proposal indicates that the entities included will be exempt from the application of the current law “for the acquisition of technical services, spare parts and equipment, when fortuitous and urgent situations arise or duly justified circumstances of public interest occur that require priority attention, provided that the amount of the contract is less than one million dollars ($1,000,000.00), not cumulative per supplier or type of technical service, avoiding contractual fragmentation.”  He indicated that he is still waiting for the debate in the Assembly to end for the approval of the general state budget.