The salary increase for congressmen can still be canceled by the Constitutional Court (CC), but the increase could be canceled by the same Congress if the deputies had really had intentions to return the money.
At least that thinks a group of analysts, after evaluating the latest actions of legislators around the increase, which was ratified by the Board of Directors of the official alliance and paid on February 28.
The Congress, when it approved its budget for 2025, added an article to increase the salary, but the CC said that its ratification should be subjected to a vote of the Plenary, scenario that did not happen.
The deputies went from having a base salary of Q9 thousand 550 – which with bonuses reached Q29 thousand 150 – to receive only base remuneration of Q46 thousand 700. It is a 389%rise, according to the analysis of the organizations that make up the alliance for an efficient congress.
The case reached the CC last year for legal actions against the increase. One was presented by deputies of the Will Block Opportunity and Solidarity (you), and another, by the Organization Action Citizen (AC).
The Court then established the procedure to evaluate the possible salary increase, and issued that, after an analysis, the Plenary of the Congress had to have the last word, but the decision was on the Board of Directors, which on more than one occasion denied having authorized the increase.
Motion in Plenary
The group of official deputies chosen by Semilla Movement announced a law initiative to cancel the increase, but this does not guarantee to open the discussion, because the proposal could be filed, never read and not be sent to commission.
Before the questions of the press, the deputies said that this was the only alternative, because they had to wait for the CC to resolve and that in the plenary of the they could not do more.
However, former deputy Nineth Montenegro, with 24 years of legislative experience, says that is not. He commented that a group of legislators could present a motion so that the discussion is transferred to the plenary and reverse the decision.
“A group of deputies could give a battle within the Plenary of Congress. They could ask that the discussion of the decision made unilaterally arrives, because the Board of Directors is not the maximum authority, it is the plenary, ”Montenegro explained before the position of the 23 officials.
Even if the efforts do not reach, the votes – said the ex -legislator – could publicly demonstrate the deputies who want and fight for the increase, who has caused social rejection.
Political decision
The lawyer and analyst Édgar Ortiz, specialized in constitutional issues, considered that the matter, rather than being legal, is political, indicating that some deputies avoid exposing their real intentions to the controversial increase.
“Now moving the burden to the Board of Directors seems rather a plenary strategy to avoid a decision that I had already made. Ultimately it is still the Plenary, who has the power to reverse the acuces, ”he explained.
The CC has two actions against the increase pending being resolved, but, for Ortiz consideration, the power to reverse the increase is in the legislative, rather than in the CC.
“It was Plenary himself who initiated the increase in salary through Legislative Agreement 31-2024 and, if today he listens to the popular clamor, he should be the one who pronounces. Why don’t you? That is the real issue. Ask the CC or judicial instances to intervene in the setting of the salary of the deputies means transferring a decision to the legal sphere that must actually be resolved in the political sphere, ”he concluded.
About 10 million
The Congress has not yet published the payroll of the deputies of February. The legislative agency explained that it has until March 28 to do so.
On the January payroll, a payment of Q3 million 970 thousand was counted in that area, including base salary and other bonuses.
But there are no accurate data on how much Congress spent on the first salary payment for deputies with the increase. Taking the base salary of Q46 thousand 700 per month, next to the bonuses that were not removed, there would be an approximate amount of Q10 million 777 thousand, according to figures estimated by organizations and opposition congressmen.
“Due to the controversy, the exact amounts, the specific items of the Congress budget that are being affected by the increase should expose,” said Ricardo Barrientos, of the Central American Institute of Fiscal Studies (ICEFI). Without the above, it is not possible to measure if the rise will affect the operability of the Congress, he added.