Legal Processes and Covid 19

Good idea....

and hopefully, she will keep us to date with the happenings in the government....
Emergency Powers extensions, curfews, restrictions and so on....

Welcome Lishali.....

Hello Darlene and everyone else,

That is right, this is a difficult moment for the world and for our community as well.

I am here to help and provide information to the best of my knowledge, of course there is not enough confirmed information out there, as the authorities of the world and the Dominican Republic are still learning how to deal with the current situation.

Thank you!

Welcome to the forums!   We.look forward to your contributions.  I will also tag you on threads whenever you can help!

Yes, welcome Lishali! Excellent to have your input here as  such becomes available and pertinent.

Lishali
I hear rumors of the 24 hour curfew coming soon

Do you hear anything ??

They are only rumors at this stage.

To our resident lawyer, Lishali,  would you explain to us please the "emergency powers"  and how they are approved, what powers does that actually give the president?

Hello!

My understanding so far is that they are only rumors. I am guessing that eventually the government will need to take a closer and better look at the situation. In the capital the social distance is not doing much, but the curfew seems to be much more respected.

What I hear is people concerned about a curfew for a longer period with short notice, our current curfew it is valid until next April 18, and the state of emergency until next 30th, thus, my guess is an extension of the current curfew at least to the 30th.

The Dominica Constitution says that the president must ask for permission to the congress before declaring a new extension of the state of emergency,  5 days before the current period ends, so we should know by the 25th if the president addresses the congress to asks for authorization to extend the state of emergency.

Hopefully this is useful information.

Hello Planner,

The state of emergency is governed by three regulations, the Constitution, the American Convention on Human Rights and Law 21-18 for states of exceptions

Article 265 of the Dominican Constitution establishes that a state of emergency may be declared for events that disturb or dawn with serious and imminent disturbance of the economic, social and environmental order of the country or that constitute a public calamity.

According to article 10 of law 21-18: “During the state of emergency, all necessary measures may be taken to combat diseases, infections (…)”

The rights that can only be suspended during the state of emergency (and inner shock) are:


1) Reduction to prison
2) Privation of liberty without cause or without legal formalities
3) Deadlines for submission to the judicial authority or for release
4) The transfer from prison establishments or other places
5) The presentation of detainees
6) Concerning habeas corpus
7) The inviolability of the home and private premises
8) Freedom of expression
9) The freedoms of association and assembly
10) The inviolability of correspondence

The first state of emergency declared by decree number 134-20 of March 19, 19 March 2020, was declared through the approving resolution number 62-20 of March 19, 2020 from the congress, which granted 25 days of national emergency, later modified by another decree number 148-20 that extended by 17 days, the new emergency period to expire on April 30, 2020 if 5 days before this period another extension request from the president does not go to the congress, therefore, by the 25th of this month we should know if an extension was requested or not.

The curfew was arranged initially by Decree number 135-20 of March 20, 2020, on Friday April 3 it was extended for 15 more days by Decree number 142-20.

I hope this information is helpful to our community.

I think it is!  Thank you. 

Now here is another question:. Some expats don't like some.of the new rules.  Some have been all over social media being critical of the govt and a few have been arrested. 

Now what happens when they go to renew their residency?  What is their risk?

Hello,

The Dominican constitution prohibits foreigners meddling in politics, however, the same constitution consecrates the freedom of expression with a constitutional rank. However, what is happening is that Dominicans and foreigners are being arrested for posting and spreading fake news around their community, this is something else and yes the DICAT (Departamento de Investigación de Crímenes de Alta Tecnología) from the National Police is actively working on finding those who are destabilizing the society with this behavior.

Regarding renewal of residency, if someone is arrested it can come out in the Dominican background check and of course that makes renewals impossible.

In general, this is a moment in which we should all be extra careful.

Helpful information:

The public health ministry has just issued a resolution No. 00932-2020 making the use of mask mandatory in all workplaces and public spaces.

It also requests banks, pharmacies and supermarkets to enable special cashiers to serve older adults as they are more at risk from the disease.

Older adults....

I'm older but not really adult...... but I can fake it for 5-10 minutos

Thank you for helpingake things clearer! 

And Willie I agree. This adulting is not what I signed up for!   I quit!

Curfew extension:

Today April 17, 2020 by decree 151-20 the President of the Republic extended the curfew period until the 30th of April.

Tonight he will speak to the nation.

Thank you Srta AttyLishali

According to today's news and yesterday's as well the police and military are now more stringent in enforcing stay the hell home.  Vehicles are stopped asking where you are going.  No more multiple people in a vehicle. You better have a good reason to be out or you are sent home OR they are taking your vehicle till this is over!

Good, that's what they should do. 

My only regret and concern is that I don't have enough AK-47's to protect myself against the lunatics, uniformed or otherwise!  I haven't left my property for 5 1/2 weeks but I look outside and at times everything looks normal (like before the CV).  People running, riding bicycles, taking their dogs for a walk, two or three  people on motorcycles, parties at night and I live in a gated community!  Go figure...

WTF???

Stupid doesn't even come close....

Arrest these people and charge them with attempted murder until they are tested and cleared from the virus and if cleared, then charge them and throw them in jail for disobeying a Government order and endangering society.  Of course the problem here is they don't have enough police and they don't have enough jail space jajaja.

Bit of a conundrum isn't it?

Maybe we should just let everyone get the virus and take the guess work out of everything and then start over with whatever is left...

Since there are no right answers, I think I will just open another bottle of rum until this blows over...

IMHO

This is a classic Urban / Rural divide

I feel this country has less problems rurally than urban

If they clamp down on the urban population they should see progress
It's more doable, easier to do and will bear more results

Focus on the center (the problems) and work out from there

That's my take

That can probably be said for every country Willie...

absolutely correct.....

I would never disagree with that comment

add to that -
the unknown territory we find ourselves in

Sorry folks. but I personally would like to keep this thread specifically for legal issues etc  that our good lawyer can respond to as there already is a thread for all the COVID-19 info. Stayin safe and stayin at home...cheers

And for that reason I moved those comments to the.other thread.  Let's keep this for legal discussion please

Filing of income/business returns, property taxes are still due at same time? I saw it was moved from March 30 to April 30.

You mean here or where?

https://home.kpmg/us/en/home/insights/2 … ments.html

Well, I thought this thread was entitled Legal issues and Covid 19 and what prompted our discussion was Planner's posting:

"According to today's news and yesterday's as well the police and military are now more stringent in enforcing stay the hell home.  Vehicles are stopped asking where you are going.  No more multiple people in a vehicle. You better have a good reason to be out or you are sent home OR they are taking your vehicle till this is over!".

Maybe you should rename this thread and avoid confusion...

It's legal issues as it relates to covid 19.

We have a general discussion thread and both posts I loved.were all about the numbers. 

Hope that helps.clear.up confusion.

The daily progress against covid19 in Dr has a long way to go according to the MoH and we could have reached the end by late May early June if controls are continued.

The President has sought an extension of a further 25 days and the Senate meets Sunday to start the approval process.

My question relates to the restriction of incoming flights to DR. As I recall the government stopped all flights from Milan and then later from Europe, Iran and Asia before the emergency powers were in place. (1st March and 15th March)

Does that mean such decisions lie within the remit of the government without reference to emergency powers?

I'm hearing from well connected sources that several Caribbean island governments  who rely more heavily on tourism are already planning for closed borders for many months to come to countries with active covid19 cases.

Interesting question - let's see if Lishali can help

This just posted on DR1 about the steps to re-open the DR.  I don't have the original source for this as of yet:

https://dr1.com/forums/threads/how-the- … ps.392730/

NOTE: http://mepyd.gob.do already pulled this schedule down from their web site.  So stay tuned for any updates.  At least we know there is a plan with steps to re-open the DR, but the schedule appears to have been premature.  All we know is that Medina wants another 25 days of emergency powers and the congress will vote on that tomorrow, Sunday.

windeguy wrote:

This just posted on DR1 about the steps to re-open the DR.  I don't have the original source for this as of yet:

https://dr1.com/forums/threads/how-the- … ps.392730/

Interesting.  Well it's good they actually have a plan.  Let's hope there are specific measurable requirements for each step!

http://mepyd.gob.do pulled down the schedule.  Stay tuned for updates. The schedule was an "arbitrary" one.

Yes good they pulled it, too many will misinterpret this.  Getting people doing what they are supposed to is hard enough!

Hello there,

Thank you for your message.

Great question this one.

The power of the Minister of Health to order emergency measures, such as the closure of borders, could be derived from the law of the Ministry of Public Health. According to the law, what should have happened is the issuance of a resolution like the one issued regarding the obligatory use of masks.

For some reason what happened was that the central government imposed the ban, as if it had been the ministry of public healths recommendation, this is not necessarily good or bad. This law is quite old, (more than 50 years) it seems as if the government responded as best it could within the legal framework by imposing the ban, from the palace and not from the Ministry of Health. I don't believe the that in recent history (50 years) any government has made much use of the Minister's powers in emergency health situations.

Regarding the comments you hear about borders, I hear the same, let's see what the government says.

Best regards.

Interesting.

Having seen the 'draft' reopening plan above, it did strike me that there will be a need to control business activity/travel in the country for several months and to make it more complicated it will be in a period of elections and potential changes in governance.

The fear is that essential measures (as recommended by WHO/PAHO, DR MoH) to contain and eliminate covid19 could be eased because of this situation.

Worried.....

Senate approved state of emergency for 25 more days, until May 25.

https://eldia.com.do/senado-aprueba-ext … r-25-dias/

Decree | Government extends curfew until May 17

The President also urged the population to maintain social distancing to avoid the spread of the new coronavirus.

https://www.diariolibre.com/actualidad/ … DL18574007

President Danilo Medina extended the curfew for another 17 days this Thursday throughout the national territory and at the same time, which is from 5:00 in the afternoon until 6:00 in the morning the following day.

The president also urged the population to maintain social distancing to avoid the spread of the new coronavirus.

Through decree 154-20, Medina indicated that this includes additional measures that have been taken by the High-Level Commission for the Prevention and Control of Coronavirus.

This is the third time that President Medina decrees the curfew, the second time from 5:00 in the afternoon to 6:00 in the morning.

In the decree, as in the previous ones, the president instructs the National Police and the Ministry of Defense to enforce the presidential provision.

On April 2, President Medina extended the curfew for 15 days from next Friday, April 3, from 5:00 p.m. to 6:00 a.m., by decree 142-50, to in order to slow down the rate of contagion of the coronavirus (COVID-19).

Previously, Medina had established a curfew throughout the country and, consequently, prohibited the transit and movement of people from 8:00 at night until 6:00 in the morning until Friday, April 3.

Again lets keep this to the legal side of dealing with  the pandemic, the lockdown and how this effects residencia etc.