New House Speaker Agrees to Revise Civil Code and Puerto Rico-US Relations

Receiving President of House of Representatives, Rafael “Tatito” Hernandez, undertook today to facilitate the presentation and discussion of various legislative proposals aimed at making the conduct of the Constitutional Statute Assembly viable and to address the concerns and shortcomings presented by the new Civil Code approved in June.

Hernández met today with the President of the Bar, Daisy Calcaño López, meeting in which they agreed to table a bill, the draft of which was prepared by the agency, to address the relationship between Puerto Rico and the United States “In collaboration with the Bar Association, further meetings will be scheduled with other parliamentary delegations “Explain the content of this project. The House of Representatives will be a facilitator for, together with the Bar, to undertake an educational process,” the new chamber leader explained.

If the proposed measure is approved, it would order a referendum for the country to authorize or reject the organization of an Assembly with constitutional status as a procedural mechanism for reviewing relations between Puerto Rico and the United States. “We understand that it is the best way for people to express themselves with a representation of all the country’s electoral currents.” Calcaño López pointed out, indicating that there is a commitment from the new majority of Popular People’s Party (PPD) in the House of Representatives to present the measure in plenary. If so, he said, they will begin an education process in the city.

For more than a decade, the body that brings together the country’s lawyers has promoted the organization of an Assembly with a constitutional status. The draft, detailed by López Calcaño, has undergone some changes which have been worked on by the Committee on Constitutional Development, chaired by the former President of the Bar, Alejandro Torres Rivera. “If this is presented, we will organize forums all over the island in plain language, in rice and beans, because we understand that there is a lot of misinformation and fear,” Calcaño López emphasized.

The Vice-President of the Chamber also attended the meeting, which lasted more than an hour and a half, José „Conny” Varela, who also heads the Committee on Constitutional and Electoral Amendments; the Kebin Maldonado Martiz, who took over the leadership of the Committee on Federal, International Affairs, Status and Veterans Affairs; and the representative and chair of the Committee on Legal Affairs, Orlando Jose Aponte Rosario.

“All sectors are seeking a democratic and transparent exercise that includes all ideologies in a fair and equitable manner. That is, they feel represented in a non-biased process, so that it has credibility in front of the country and the United States Congress “, said Maldonado Martiz.

As part of the meeting, Calcaño López indicated that they also delivered a 26-page document with some of the amendments 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 are worrying and we believe that it is necessary for people to have an adequate and temperate civil code,” López Calcaño said.

Among the amendments proposed by the College are the definition of the surrogate, the restoration of the doctrine of equity and the revision of Article 107 which addresses the issue of the validity of legal acts that a minor between 18 and 21 years of age can do. “This article should be reviewed immediately and possibly repealed because it does not limit the legal acts of minors between these ages, but specifies them,” urged Calcaño López.

López Calcaño also emphasized the urgency of examining the article 694 on the change of name and sex in the marriage certificate, since, as detailed, the procedure “may violate the right to privacy of the person and may be discriminatory.” “We could have had better code, not as it was presented, in a faulty process, rigged behind closed doors,” he said.

He argued that, in addition, it is necessary to analyze the area of ​​the right to maintenance of children of legal age studying vocational or vocational education, as well as the provision of obligations that establish that creditors can carry out debt collection procedures, for example, without the need to deposit. an application, “Which is very dangerous.” Another area to be respected is Article 6.86 which excluded legal representatives as being legitimate to apply for certifications in the demographic register. “This makes some of our efforts in practice more expensive,” he explained.

In Article 615, the lawyer added, they suggest eliminating “involuntary manslaughter” as one of the reasons for depriving parental authority. Involuntary manslaughter is not intentional conduct and sometimes does not lead to imprisonment, he explained. “This crime is inconsistent and should not exist,” said López Calcaño, adding that they also suggested that no vehicle would be considered subject to the embargo, unless it is a collector’s or antique vehicle.

With regard to the amendments to the Civil Code, Hernández indicated in writing that a resolution would be tabled containing and assessing the most important points of the proposed amendments, so that the views of the interfering sectors could be heard. This process will be in the hands of Aponte Rosario.

“There are different sectors of the country committed to working on issues of legal relevance, such as the Civil Code, constitutional amendments and the Constituent Assembly as a tool to present to our people a solution to the problem of political status. This is a hopeful start and it definitely motivates me to do the job that all Puerto Ricans expect, ”said Aponte Rosario.