Page 11 - MONTT LATIN AMERICAN MAGAZINE, MARCH, 2018, ENGLISH

promised by the incoming government is the increase in the provision for minimum services. Related to the Pension Reform, the new government offered to find a way to improve the retirement of all Chileans, and in a faster and more intense way, those of women, the most vulnerable and the middle class, in general, for which it is considered to increase the solidity pillar, a rise of 40 percent of the respective fund. The initiative that reformulates the law will be sent within the next three months.
On the other hand, it is assured that employers will be ordered to elevate contributions by four percent. In addition, a series of incentives and supplements to female pensions and certain groups of the middle class will be created, so that those who want to extend their working life can do so with good benefits.
Educational Reform
Related to the Educational Reform, this law has a very special status: on January 24, the Chamber of Deputies approved and dismissed the Higher Education bill, one of the many that make up the educational reform promoted by the previous government. The complete package expects to ensure free education for 60 percent of tertiary students and gradually move towards the whole, along with a set of new powers for universities that would allow them to reform their internal statutes and include representation of students and teachers in the decisions of the university councils, among other considerations. However, the project is still waiting its promulgation. This, because since January 26, the Constitutional Court (Tribunal Constitucional, TC) is conducting a preventive control in case it considers that the Bachelet´s government proposal violates the Constitution at some point. The project had already received comments during its processing. In fact, the document did not entirely left the senators of the Nueva Mayoría (the ruling alliance at the time) in complete agreement. For the Constitutional Court (TC) the task will be quite extended, since the initiative has 170 articles. Paradoxically it will be this government that will end promulgating one
of the most emblematic laws of Bachelet, but with the indications of the TC and its own reforms, to fulfil the promise of extending the gratuity, privileging professional technical students, as well as incorporating other considerations.
In respect to the Health Reform, it is expected the re-launching of the Isapres Law (Instituciones de Salud Previsional, Health Insurance Institutions, private organizations)presented at the end of Sebastian Piñera’s first government in 2014, which includes a single health insurance. The first thing the government will do to address this matter is to measure the efficiency of hospitals and their resources in order to improve them. In the system, which has a municipal primary health debt of 100 billion pesos, more than 80 percent of the population of the country is served.The budget for the whole sector is insufficient, and in spite of that, there is the obligation to deliver billions of pesos to private clinics every year. Waiting lists are a technical and political issue, grave and serious.
Related to the Migration Law, there are two projects in Congress that seek to modify the old Chilean legislaton, that has been in force since 1975 and which is the oldest in the continent. Interior Minister Andres Chadwick said the new provision would be a priority.
The Coordinator of the Migration Law Reform presented by the first government of Sebastian Piñera, Joaquin Barañao recalls that the 2013 project was approved in the idea of legislating in the Interior Government Commission of the Chamber of Deputies, with votes of parliamentarians of the Nueva Mayoría, the ruling coalition then. However, the initiative recently sent by Michelle Bachelet, five months ago, did not pass that first legislative procedure. Hence, it is thought that the same project presented by the Piñera government, with changes, would be processed again. In this initiative, a multisectoral organization was created as well as a broader menu of migratory categories. Also the difficulty of recognizing professional titles was addressed. One of the disagreements that have made the law more difficult is whether foreigners can apply for residence permits while in Chile. That is, if after entering as a tourist, they can change its status to residents. That is a great topic
of discussion. Today a person lands in Chile and can immediately apply for a residence permit in the Immigration Department. That is something that the legislation allows and that is also contemplated in the project presented by the past government. Piñera’s 2013 project requires residence permits to be authorized not in Chile, but in the consulates.
Another point of disagreement is how generous Chile will be in terms of the social benefits of the fiscal charge that will be delivered to the foreigners. This has to do with health, education, and subsidy to housing. And another aspect of the discussion, are the deadlines for claiming for the appeal of expulsion. In Bachelet’s project, these are quite comfortable, while in Piñera’s, shorter deadlines were established.
Children’s Policies
Regarding the Reform to Children’s Policy, it is expected to replace the National Children’s Service, (Servicio Nacional del Menor, Sename), by two organizations: Service for the Protection of Children and Adolescents to take charge of vulnerable children and the Adolescent Responsibility Service, which covers young offenders of the law.
So far the Executive has not yet explained whether a new project will enter Congress or whether it will proceed with one of the two that are already presented. One was sent by the Piñera administration in August 2012 and Bachelet signed the other in April 2017. Both texts are in their first constitutional phase. Related to public security, Piñera has several definitions adopted. One of them is to forge a national agreement on this matter, including the creation of a commission with cross-sectional representation that brings together personalities linked to these issues. Regarding the Constitution Reform, submitted by the outgoing government, the new authorities estimated that this government also contemplates the modernization and improvement of the Magna Carta, but not on Bachelet’s initiative, because as the President himself explained, “practically nobody knew it, not even the parties of the Nueva Mayoría of the centre-left “.
Regarding the Constitution Reform, presented by the outgoing government, the new authorities estimated that this government also contemplates the modernization and improvement of the Magna Carta, but not on Bachelet’s initiative, because as the President himself explained, “practically nobody knew it, not even the parties of the Nueva Mayoría of the centre-left “.
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