In mid-July of last year, and with the support of at least 30 services, including Serviu, Civil Registry, IPS, Internal Taxes, Labor Inspection and Fonasa, a sit-down strike called by the National Group of Tax Employees (ANEF) in the Ñuble Region.
The mobilization, of a local nature, responded to the demands that still persist since the installation of the region (2018), in terms of staffing, infrastructure, functioning of the provinces and other items.
“We are here not asking for ourselves, we are not asking for more money or more salary. We are asking that the Ñuble region truly become a region. That people who live in places as remote as San Fabián or Cobquecura, do not have to come to Chillán, as was the promise that was made to them when the region was established, but can be treated in Quirihue or San Carlos, as was the original idea,” said the president of the Ñuble Regional Council of the ANEF, María Elena Hellman, at that time.
According to the leader, “three provinces were created, and today none of them have provincial public services installed. Centralism continues, but now not in Concepción, but in the regional capital, Chillán. The number of civil servants has a 40% deficit, we want the lines to end, the wait at the IPS to end, the wait at the Civil Registry to end, and for that, we need more people, suitable people, civil servants and public officials who can carry out the work that the public function determines. We are not here advocating for more advisors or for other types of people with characteristics of political operators. Here we are fighting so that there are real public officials who can improve the administration of the State in this ‘half-baked’ region,” the leader emphasized.
Although the mobilization was ended, and some gradual improvements were achieved in the 2024 Budget law, public officials in Ñuble remain on alert. Like the authorities, just over five years after the region was installed.
Bet on the provinces
The governor of Ñuble, Óscar Crisóstomo, is critical when analyzing the debts with the territory.
“Our analysis is critical, since one of the points still pending in the installation of the region continues to be the development of the provinces and their political-administrative formation. That is why we have expressed to the central government, and also agreed with the associations of civil servants, the need to expand public services in the territory, with special emphasis on those that respond to priority needs, such as roads, health, housing and all those that make people’s lives easier,” he said.
According to the authority, “when we talk about decentralization, this must also apply to regional management, since not everything can be concentrated in Chillán; but rather, strengthen the provinces and their development, preventing our neighbors from having to travel to do their paperwork or wait for a solution, depending on the scarce personnel that still exists in some public departments. Now, we are also clear that the solution is not only about increasing the number of officials, because management capacity is more relevant. There are ministries that, without having a great expansion, manage to execute their entire budget, while there are others that still return part of the resources at the end of the budget year, and that is a clear sign of inefficiency, where it is necessary to correct course,” he claimed.
From the management of the Regional Government and in the areas of its competence, Crisóstomo asserted that “we have tried to adopt exemplary decentralizing measures, such as the distribution of local initiative community projects (FRIL), which in 2023 increased to 92 of the 23 executed last year. former; the implementation of comprehensive women’s centers in Yungay, Coelemu, Coihueco, El Carmen and Bulnes; the development of initiatives that strengthen tourist destinations in all provinces and the economic boost in the communes of the Itata Valley, or the program that provides sports infrastructure to the 21 communes of Ñuble or the television surveillance cameras, with the same coverage, just to mention a few. We must act by example, and we also expect that from the central administration of the State,” he warned.
Roads in Punilla, a big step
From the central level, the provincial Presidential delegate of Punilla, Rocío Hizmeri, recognized how difficult it has been to complete the installation.
“Since we took office as a government we have worked to achieve a correct installation of the Ñuble region, a situation that unfortunately could not be resolved when it was formed. We are aware that there is still a lot to advance, which is why we hope that there is a will to unite the parliamentarians of the region to approve a tax reform that allows the State to have the necessary resources to finish implementing all the services that are missing in the provinces, and have the necessary personnel so as not to overload officials,” he stated.
In that same line of unity and collaboration, he said, “we also value, for example, the disposition of the Municipality of San Carlos de have infrastructure for the installation of the next Highway Directorate in the province of Punilla, a service that will undoubtedly mark a before and after in the quality of life of the neighbors. We, from the Presidential Delegation of Punilla, have developed strategies to bring different services closer to the community through Governments on the Ground, reaching remote and rural places in our province, achieving links with communities, social organizations and municipalities, serving more than 4 thousand people. We have also made agreements with public service services in our delegation; such as National Assets, Prodemu, Serviu, Judicial Assistance and Census Corporation, in order to facilitate the lives of ourneighbors,” said Hizmeri.
Also from Punilla, the mayor of San Carlos, Gastón Suazo, expressed his concern.
“We hope that our province can quickly have all the services it should have. We believe that the province’s installation from the beginning has been deficient. Although we have a very good relationship with the Provincial Presidential Delegation, there are still many fundamental and basic services that should work in our area, to be closer to the neighbors, and in this way, solve the problems that afflict our communities. ”, he expressed.
He added that “we feel that it is very relevant that all actors do our part so that the province can have all its services physically installed and within reach of the community. An important step is what our municipality has taken by providing municipal offices so that the provincial Roads Directorate can be installed, and in joint work with the regional authorities, achieve a service much closer to our neighbors. That is the spirit of our administration, to make ourselves available to the government to facilitate the task of installing services in Punilla,” he stated.
Bulnes, the “paper” capital
While the law that created the Ñuble Region was being discussed, voices emerged that warned about the short life that the commune of Bulnes would have as the provincial capital of Diguillín.
This, due to the debut of the regional governors, whose reform, along with establishing this new figure, established that of a representative of the Executive (regional Presidential delegate); and that of provincial presidential delegates, who perform functions similar to those of the former governors.
The reform that allowed the election of the current regional governors established that in the provinces where the regional capital was located, the functions of the provincial Presidential delegate would be carried out by the regional Presidential delegate.
This regulation eliminated what until then was considered “duplicity of functions” between the mayor and the governor, when they were in the same city, as was the case, for example, of the mayor of Biobío and the governor of Concepción. .
In this way, as of July 14, 2021, it is the regional Presidential delegate who assumes the functions of the provincial Presidential delegate of Diguillín, which in the opinion of several, left Bulnes without representation of the Executive, without governance, and ultimately , like a provincial capital without power. Of paper.
Gonzalo Bustamante, mayor of the commune, stated that “without a doubt there is a debt from the central government with the provincial capitals of Ñuble, especially with Diguillín, which no longer even has a provincial delegate. We understand that this is not a question of government or political color, but rather of planning, operation and delivery of services to the community. For example, in the provincial capital there is no technical inspection plant, nor do we have a medium-complexity hospital, we do not have services such as Roads, Internal Taxes, Health Service, among other public departments that are constantly required by citizens. Before, at least sporadic services were brought to Bulnes, now even that has been lost,” he said.
According to Bustamante – who took office recently, due to the judicial investigation that the incumbent mayor, Guillermo Yeber, is going through -, “there is still a lot to work on and bring services closer to the territories of Diguillín and all its communes.”
“Backyard of Chillán”
Quirihue, capital of the province of Itata, is another territory that has experienced this “half installation.”
The mayor of the commune, Richard Irribarra, acknowledged that “not even 10% of all the deliveries that should reach the capital of Itata have arrived. It could be said that we have made progress as the provincial capital, but very little, today only the Presidential delegation has been installed in our commune, which would be the only difference with the old province of Ñuble,” he mentioned.
For Irribarra, the great debt is that “first of all, all public services arrive so that the inhabitants of the province of Itata can carry out procedures in the provincial capital. Services as important as Internal Taxes, Treasury, SAG, National Assets, Roads, Provincial Education, among many others. It is important to decentralize public services, because otherwise, the provinces created with the new region of Ñuble will end up being the backyard of the regional capital,” he warned.
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