New Chamber President Agrees to Review Civil Code and Puerto Rico-United States Relationship

The new president of the House of Representatives, Rafael “Tatito” Hernández, today pledged to facilitate the presentation and discussion of several legislative proposals intended to make holding a constitutional status meeting viable and to address the concerns and shortcomings presented by the new Civil Code adopted in June.

Hernández today met with the president of the Bar Association, Daisy Calcaño López, meeting in which they agreed to submit a bill, drafted by the bureau, to address Puerto Rico’s relationship with the United States. “In collaboration with the Bar Association, other meetings with the other parliamentary delegations will explain the content of this project. The Lower House will facilitate an educational process together with the Bar Association,” said the new chamber president.

If approved, the proposed measure would order the holding of a referendum for the country to allow or deny the holding of a constitutional status meeting as a procedural mechanism to review relations between Puerto Rico and the United States . “We understand that this is the best way for people to express themselves with representation from all electoral currents of the country”, Calcaño López pointed out, indicating that there is a commitment from the new majority of the Popular Democratic Party (PPD) in the House of Representatives to present the measure to the plenary meeting. If so, he said, they would start an educational process in town.

For more than a decade, the body that unites the country’s lawyers has promoted the holding of a Constitutional Status Meeting. The design, detailed López Calcaño, has undergone some changes that have been worked on by the Constitutional Development Commission, chaired by the former president of the Bar Association, Alejandro Torres Rivera placeholder image. “When this is presented we will have forums all over the island in plain language, with rice and beans, because we understand there is a lot of misinformation and fear”, Be Calcaño López on it.

The Vice-President of the Chamber also took part in the meeting, which lasted more than an hour and a half, José “Conny” Varela, who also chairs the Committee on Constitutional and Election Amendments; the representative Kebin Maldonado Martiz, who headed the Commission on Federal, International, Status and Veterans Affairs; and the representative and chairman of the Legal Committee, Orlando Jose Aponte Rosario.

“All sectors are looking for a democratic and transparent exercise that encompasses all ideologies in a fair and equitable manner. That is, they feel represented in a non-biased process so that it is credible with the country and the US Congress,” Said Maldonado Martiz.

As part of the meeting, Calcaño López indicated that they had also delivered a 26-page document outlining some of the changes urgently required by the Civil Code, signed in June by the former governor. Wanda Vazquez Garced. “There are some good things, but there are some mistakes that worry us and it seems to us that it is necessary for the people to have an adequate and tempered civil code,” said López Calcaño.

One of the amendments proposed by the College is defining surrogacy, restoring the doctrine of fairness and revising Article 107 which addresses the issue of the validity of legal acts that a minor between the ages of 18 and 21 can make. “This article should be revised immediately and possibly withdrawn, as it does not restrict the legal acts of minors between these ages, it specifies them for us,” insisted Calcaño López.

López Calcaño also stressed the urgency to look at the article 694 on the change of name and gender in the marriage certificate, since, as described, the procedure “may violate the person’s right to privacy and be discriminatory”. “We could have had a better code, not as it was presented, in a flawed process, rigged behind closed doors,” he said.

He argued that, in addition, consideration should be given to the area of ​​the right to maintenance of legal children undergoing vocational or vocational training, and the provision of obligations that allow creditors to carry out debt collection procedures, for example without the need to file a claim. to serve, “That’s very dangerous.” Another point of attention is section 6.86 which excludes legal representatives as legitimate from applying for certifications in the demographic register. “That makes some of our efforts more expensive in practice,” he explains.

In Article 615, the lawyer added, they propose to ban “involuntary manslaughter” as one of the grounds for deprivation of custody. Involuntary homicide is not willful behavior and sometimes does not lead to imprisonment, he explained. “This crime is inconsistent and shouldn’t be there,” said López Calcaño, adding that they have also suggested that no motor vehicle is embargoed unless it is not a collector or old.

With regard to the amendments to the Civil Code, Hernández has indicated in writing that a resolution will be tabled containing and evaluating the main points of the proposed amendments, so that the views of the meddling sectors can be heard. This process will be in the hands of Aponte Rosario.

“There are several sectors of the country that are committed to matters of legal importance, such as the Civil Code, constitutional changes and the Constituent Assembly as a tool to help our people resolve the issue of political status. This is a hopeful start and it absolutely motivates me to do the work that all Puerto Ricans expect, ”said Aponte Rosario.