Daughters of  power brokers get ‘economic aid’

The Institute for Training and Use of Human Resources (Ifarhu) is once again in the eye of the storm after publications that show that the daughters of people close to power received onerous ‘economic aid’ reports  La Prensa.

María Alejandra Panay Marín, daughter of the secretary general of the National Assembly) and former deputy of the PRD, Quibián Panay, is another of the beneficiaries of “economic aid” granted by the Institute under the direction of Bernardo Nando Meneses, former secretary of the PRD Youth Front.

So far Meneses has given two grants to the daughter of the secretary of the Assembly that total $81,730. The first was $59,230, which was endorsed by the Comptroller General in October 2021.  The second for $22,500 received the approval of the comptroller, in February 2022.

 Panay Marín has been pursuing a master’s degree in project management since January 2022 at De Montfort University, in Leicester, England.

Before leaving to pursue her master’s degree, Panay Marín worked at Ifarhu,  in Meneses’s office, as “executive assistant to the CEO.” She was in that position for two and a half years, from July 2019, when the government of Laurentino Cortizo assumed power.

Panay Marín in her social media posts is seen next to her father, wearing PRD hats and shirts.

Asked about the economic aid granted to his daughter, Panay assured La Prensa: “the management and achievement of this procedure is her merit as a young Panamanian professional.”

On Wednesday, the digital site Foco Panamá revealed that Ifarhu granted n economic aid of $61,000 to Paola Testa Rodríguez, daughter of the PRD deputy Zulay Rodríguez. Both Meneses and the deputy f assure that the aid was given to Testa based on her academic and sports skills since they clarify that it is funding to complete the payment of a university career that has a sports complement at a university in the US.

Rodríguez posted messages on Twitter, to justify the benefit. She assured that her daughter is a “national tennis player” since she was a child she has participated in the tournaments of the International Tennis Federation.

“I would have liked to be able to cover 100% [of the cost of the university], but unfortunately it was not possible… I cannot give you an exact figure, but we are talking about hundreds of thousands of dollars,”.

“To be clear, not even adding my net salary for 5 years could have covered the entirety and you know that I am not a millionaire,”

Rodríguez earns a salary of $7,000 a month in the Assembly as a deputy, without adding what she receives as president of a permanent work commission.

Her husband lvaro Testa, is a Panama Canal pilot with a base salary of $18,305 a month (an amount that can sometimes be doubled, with extra hours of service ).

Meneses said the “economic aid” in favor of the deputy’s daughter was given “for her academic and sports performance.”