The Plenary Chamber of the Constitutional Court declared a national emergency to quickly study the demands against the legal reform that suspended the application of the Guarantees Law during the term of 2022, and which was approved ad portas of the elections to Congress and the Presidency of the Republic.
The decision was made with a 6-3 vote and a presentation by Judge Jorge Ibáñez. In addition, the Court denied the request to suspend the rule as a precautionary measure, as several citizens who filed lawsuits had requested.(You may be interested: In which cases is anger a factor in reducing a conviction for homicide?).
EL TIEMPO established that the rapporteur magistrate of this case, in which the Court is studying 21 demands, Diana Fajardo, initially proposed to effectively suspend the rule. That request only had three votes: Fajardo, Alberto Rojas and José Fernando Reyes. And the Plenary Chamber opted by majority to declare the national urgency.
What does the Court study? This is article 124 of Law 2159 of 2021 that decreed the budget for this year and that allows the Nation to enter into inter-administrative agreements with the territorial entities to execute programs and projects corresponding to the General budget “with the purpose of promoting economic reactivation.”
The reform, criticized by various political sectors, had 42 lawsuits both by members of Congress and by lawyers, organizations, among others, who allege in general terms that said reform should have been processed in a statutory law; that it is a ‘monkey’ because it has no relationship with the rest of the content of the budget law; that it was voted without the required majorities and that the democratic principle was ignored.
The demands also claim that the reform is unconstitutional because it affected the system of checks and balances, and because it would have opened the door to “favoring some political sectors and even to finance the purchase of votes in some regions of the country.”
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It is also alleged that the presidentand Ivan Duque would have flouted a court order by signing the law instead of objecting to it, and that it is a reform that only applies for 2022, which only allows the subsequent intervention of the Comptroller, among others. And some of them request the suspension of this provision as a precautionary measure, as well as that the procedure be carried out in the Court as a “national emergency.”
All the actions presented against this article were accumulated in a single file, the one headed by Senator Roy Barreras, and were in charge of Judge Diana Fajardo. In a 34-page order, the office had considered that before entering to review the requests for precautionary measures, it should rule on admission.
In this sense, the Court fully admitted the claims presented by Barreras, Álvaro Garro Parra, Senator Ivan Cepeda Castro and others; and that of Juan Manuel López Molina.
Likewise, he partially admittedThe lawsuits filed separately by Edwing Fabián Díaz Plata, Carlos Alberto Maya RestrepoJuan Sebastián Ramírez García, Juan David Gamboa González, Congressman Antonio Sanguino Páez, also Congressman Luis Fernando Velasco Chaves and David Andrés Luna Sánchez.
Added to these are the demands of Juliana Valentina Cruz Sánchez, Valentina Álvarez Castro, Laura Montes Salazar, Angie Bibiana Burgos Fajardo, Francy Lizeth Rincón Tejedor, Henry Camilo Estupiñán Ballesteros, Karina Victoria Reyes Gutiérrez, Mile Vanessa González Estupiñán, María Paula Alvarado Niño and Danna Valentina Dallos Soto. Another 11 claims could still be admitted if the plaintiffs correct some issues noted by the Court.
Government has defended the norm
President Ivan Duque has defended the change promoted by the executive. “In Colombia there is no longer re-election, we have a different circumstance,” he said. And, he also referred to the scenario that the pandemic created.
The head of state put this issue on the table. He said that the elected mayors and governors who took office in January 2020 have had that wall that has prevented them from carrying out all their aspirations and programs.
According to the president, the message is not to eliminate the problems of mayors and governors with blank checksbut make determinations, suspend effects and also eliminate components, in such a way that they can execute projects that benefit the communities.
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