The President of Panama, José Raúl Mulino, reiterated during his weekly press conference that his administration will not allow for a 'parallel decentralization' and rejected the idea of granting resources without control to the community boards. 'What there will not be is giving a check to the community boards so they can achieve without a clear objective,' stated the president. Mulino emphasized that the budgeted works will be executed, but urged mayors and representatives of districts to channel the projects through the competent authorities. 'We cannot simply deliver a check without a defined purpose,' he added. The president also highlighted the work of the National Authority for Decentralization (AND), calling it a model of efficiency, unlike previous administrations. Mulino's statements came after complaints from several mayors. In response to the complaints from the mayors of Colón and Panama City, the mayor of Colón, Diógenes Galván, had raised the lack of contributions from the Colón Free Trade Zone to his municipality, to which Mulino responded that the free zone was created with the purpose of being 'free' and has no reason to modify its tax policy. Mulino also made it clear that the tax policy in Colón will not be reviewed, defending the autonomy of the Free Trade Zone in its economic role. Regarding the complaint from the mayor of Panama City, Mayer Mizrachi, about the distribution of the 200 million dollars collected in the real estate tax (IBI), Mulino assured that 80 million were destined for local governments, which, according to him, complies with current regulations.
