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On the occasions when I have needed to meet with a public authority, to raise inappropriate situations within their Administration service, I have had to answer countless questions that are reflected in a virtual form on the lobby law platform, although I do not carry out that activity. If the person requested, after analyzing the reasons why the meeting is requested, agrees to receive me, he himself answers the mail indicating the date, place and time for the interview to take place, therefore, leaving a record of this visit in cyberspace, which is in line with transparency.
It has been criticized that various ministers and political leaders of all parties have obediently attended the home of the well-known lobbysta professional Pablo Zalaquett to talk with important businessmen, without these pleasant business talks having been reflected in the respective law. Public opinion and experts on the subject disapproved of the behavior of the above, although some of them responded that this law did not apply to them because in those private meetings only general topics were discussed, although later President Boric, defending them, assured that the Their sole purpose was to reach agreements between the public and private sectors, even if it hurt.
If we compare the different explanations given by the ministers and that of Boric, this columnist only gives credence to the latter, because presidents do not lie. It is also possible that Zalaquett, a man of absolute trust in the political caste, has summoned them all, at the request of the ministers themselves, who were interested in personally meeting the large investors who generate economic growth in the country, but in In this event, it was essential that their conversations be reserved to prevent the irascible citizens from finding out about it. In any case, regardless of those who wanted to exchange opinions at the lobbyist’s house, this meeting should have been public knowledge.
Given that in our narrow and long strip of land those who determine public policies are private actors, sometimes with traps, we realize what has been happening for many years with the recurring violations, by private “past” the tip”, to the General Law of Urban Planning and Construction (LGUC) of 1977 and to the strict, on paper, Decree Law (DL) 3,516 of 1980, regulatory instruments that prevent the construction of housing on the so-called pleasant plots of 5,000 m2, located in rural territories throughout the country.
This old and current DL gives powers to the Seremis of Housing and Agriculture, the Livestock Agricultural Service (SAG) and municipalities so that, through permanent inspections, they demand compliance, without having exercised their roles. In its 2nd article it is declared “those who violate the provisions of this decree law, even in the form of communities, condominiums, leases or any other whose result is the use for urban or housing purposes of the properties indicated in the first article, they will be sanctioned with a fine for tax benefit”which is a dead letter since the prevailing system tolerates this type of corruption.
What’s more, notaries cannot authorize the deeds of sale and the Real Estate Registrars (CBR) cannot register them either, but to make these attractive businesses possible, with general indifference, only the land is registered, giving the appearance that there is nothing in them. There are houses and for this reason the Internal Revenue Service (SII) only charges real estate contributions to a tiny part of the homes built, which are the ones it detects. The municipal construction directors (DOM) are prevented from issuing permits for housing, but some of them, considering themselves autonomous, grant them and when someone denounces them, the Comptroller’s Office only declares the bad behavior of those municipal officials.
As we see, “the law is made, the trap is made” and thus the Treasury has stopped collecting infinite millions of dollars from territorial tax collections and, in return, those who dedicate themselves to this deceitful business have already obtained their profits, without anyone bothers them, despite the fact that, as such DL mandates, commercial transactions are null, giving jurisdiction to the State Defense Council (CDE) to go to court demanding the nullity of those acts, which has never happened.
From 2022, thanks to the strong and farsighted hand of the Minister of Agriculture, Esteban Valenzuela, this commercial debauchery that has damaged the country’s ecosystems is ending, since now, among other things, the SAG requires that the homes that are located on these plots have a basic infrastructure so that the State guarantees services such as water, electricity and sewerage, also protecting native forests and other natural resources.
The binding circulars generated by Valenzuela, to end the abuse, were challenged in the courts of justice by those who profited from the destruction of the environment throughout the country, but the judicious position of the minister, defended by the CDE, was successful in the Supreme Court. To this day, television channels show how the unsuspecting buyers of these plots are deceived by the “entrepreneurs” who sell them to them and we continue to read offers of these plots in the written press and this occurs because the indolence of the Administration is absolute.
This institutionalized chaos can only end when all the communes in the country have their Communal Regulatory Plans (PRC) and in this sense it will be urgent for Minister Carlos Montes, who has not been invited to the friendly Zalaquett dinners, to exercise his organizing mission. of the territory, applying a pardon for offenders with the requirement that they obtain the corresponding building permits, paying the municipalities the fees of 1.5% of the budget, set by the quality of the construction of each property.
Understanding that after learning about this captivating business-political alliance, their next meetings will be public, eagerly waiting for guru Zalaquett, exercising his enormous influence on the State apparatus, to accept the final solution that has been proposed in this text to end the the fraud of the pleasant plots.
Finally, alluding to the title of this opinion column, it is made clear that the countless friendly meals at Zalaquett’s house are frugal, as claimed by a right-wing media outlet. There it was published that he only offered his beloved guests boards of cheese, nuts, sandwiches and drinks. As we can see, to avoid possible “disorders” among the diverse diners, he did not offer whiskey or gin and gin.
Patrick Herman
The opinions expressed in this section are the responsibility of the author and do not necessarily represent the thoughts of the newspaper El Clarín
