The first weeks as a councilor of the Social Welfare Area are proving especially hard, becoming aware of the devastating consequences of the island policies established by the PSOE in the past legislature, obliges me as a public official to raise my voice in defense of our island, our elders and all those people and families who have been affected by the institutional paralysis in matters of social care.
We cannot and must not allow attempts to justify it through the staging of a puppet show that sings the popular song "Let's Tell Lies", with a clear interest in justifying the inaction and disinterest in the execution of a project of general interest such as the construction of a center for the elderly that would have allowed us to respond to 180 seniors on the island, and whose only mistake was to have been born in the legislature of Pedro San Ginés, a sign of the politics of rancor installed by the PSOE.
The need to increase the number of care places has been and is one of the serious problems existing on the island of Lanzarote, therefore the Cabildo of Lanzarote, under the mandate of Pedro San Ginés, assumes the commitment to respond to the waiting list, betting decisively on the construction of a socio-health center for the elderly. The financing for the construction of this new infrastructure was guaranteed through the Autonomous Community of the Canary Islands, where the island of Lanzarote was granted 10 million euros distributed in different annuities, in order to increase the number of social health care places.
In 2019, the Cabildo of Lanzarote awarded UTE RESIDENZA SANITARIA the contract for the drafting of the project and execution of the construction of a Socio-health Center for the Elderly and care for dependent people and its operation.
Unfortunately, the imperative need and urgency of this construction has not marked the roadmap of María Dolores Corujo and her entourage, therefore, once the current Government was formed, the president of the Cabildo of Lanzarote appeared before the media to denounce the management of the previous government group, especially in social welfare matters, given the return of 13 million euros due to inaction and political negligence for two concepts; the return of funds for the provision of services to people in situations of dependency and the financing reserved for the creation of new social health infrastructures.
As a citizen and as a political leader, I find unacceptable the normalization of failure, a failure that materializes with the return of more than six million euros, granted to the Cabildo of Lanzarote through the II Plan of Social Health Infrastructures, for the construction of a Residence to care for people who require a high level of health care and a day center.
If we go back to 2019, when Pedro San Ginés declared that this project was one of the great projects of his legislature from the point of view of infrastructure and social health investment, it is not in vain that he gathered efforts for its materialization, with the firm purpose of responding to 180 vulnerable people, dependent elderly people, who, much to my regret, are still part of a list of people and families who are still waiting for a public place today. The reasons? Perhaps because it was not a priority, perhaps because it was not of interest or because it ceased to be of interest once the extensive report on the laying of the first stone in May 2021 was carried out.
Trying to elucidate the reasons that have led to the absolute abandonment of this vital and necessary project for this island, the aforementioned report arouses my interest, adorned with an endless number of images with a celebratory character that correspond to the act of placing the already known "first and only stone" for the construction of the long-awaited Center for the Elderly, in which appear from Ángel Víctor Torres, president of the Canary Islands, the Minister of Social Rights, Equality, Diversity and Youth, Noemí Santana, the president of the Cabildo of Lanzarote María Dolores Corujo, councilors, island directors, etc. Engrossed in his reading, it is worth remembering the words of the former President of the Canary Islands, Don Ángel Víctor Torres, while placing the first and only stone of this failure, in which he pointed out "the very important Project for Lanzarote and for the Canary Islands as a whole based on a new model of care in residential units that is new in the islands, in addition to collaboration between the different institutions of different political colors but having clear the objective that is the defense of the general welfare", in the same way and following the same need he stated "Undoubtedly, attending to our elders and giving them back what they have given us so much is an ethical, personal and also political responsibility".
I am perplexed by the latest statements made by the PSOE through its spokesperson Benjamín Perdomo in response to the appearance made by this government group, who consider that the Project of which they boasted was for them a "poorly planned electoral project from the beginning, which was going to put the care of our elders in the hands of a construction company", of which "under the Mayoralty of Oswaldo Betancort it took more than a year to grant the license".
Who should we believe? Was the former president of the Cabildo, Mª Dolores Corujo, who, together with the former president of the Canary Islands, Ángel Víctor Torres, laying the first stone of this center in 2021, lying, or are they lying to us now? Will they perhaps try to justify these years of political inaction through these clumsy statements?
Continuing with the statements made as a justification for the loss of funding, and as if it were a slogan, they spice up the statements by stating that; "Those who say they do not want to privatize social health management are the same ones who in 2019, award the construction and management of the residence for the elderly for 30 years to the same company, a construction company, which Coalición Canaria thought was great to manage the quality of life of our elders".
Faced with such statements, they only reveal that, although they have been public managers, they lack the necessary knowledge to understand that this concession awarded to a UTE consisted of the construction and operation of a public service composed of a construction company (COSVIM) that would have been responsible for the construction of the building and a social cooperative society (Fratello Sole) that would have been responsible for the management of the public service, all in clear reference to the fact that Coalición Canaria thought it was fine for a construction company to manage the quality of life of the elderly. Is this how they try to justify the return of so many millions of euros? Are they unaware of the composition of the UTE? Or are they trying to mislead?
Ignorance that is once again reflected when referring to the procedures for awarding the management of public services through Law 9/2017 on public sector contracts, through a public service concession, where the regulatory development of the social agreement did not yet exist and therefore it was not even an option.
And finally, as icing on the cake in the face of such statements and absurdities, they surprise us again by stating the following; "An appeal was filed with the Government of the Canary Islands so that the Cabildo would not have to return the subsidy that was granted to it, which obtained a favorable response through a budgetary modification. The negotiation of the budgetary modification is on the table and this has been indicated by the General Intervention of the Autonomous Community".
Faced with this statement, which lacks truth and rigor, I ask myself and ask you the following; Where is that favorable response to not return the economic funds for not having executed the work? I want to and wish to find it, but in its search, I have only obtained the following documents that are in the files as a farewell to this fateful legislature, between the months of April and June 2023:
*Remission to the Cabildo of Lanzarote of the proposed resolution of the General Directorate of Dependency and Disability regarding the justification of the funds received for the construction of the Center for the Elderly, where we were granted a period of 10 working days to formulate the allegations, of April 2023.
Provoked by the ABSENCE OF ALLEGATIONS, in time by this administration, in June 2023, the resolution of the General Directorate of Dependency and Disability is sent, where it declares not justified by the Cabildo of Lanzarote the amount of six million five hundred and seventy-one thousand four hundred and twenty-nine euros (€ 6,571,429.00) of the annuities 2017/2021, and agrees to initiate the procedure for the reimbursement of the amount of six million five hundred and seventy-one thousand four hundred and twenty-nine euros (€ 6,571,429.00) corresponding to the total amount not justified, where the Island Council has allowed the aforementioned period to elapse without making allegations, so it is appropriate to continue with the processing of the reimbursement procedure.
Curiously, motivated perhaps by late and hollow remorse a few days before the elections, the Cabildo of Lanzarote sends allegations for the suspension of the reimbursement of the subsidy received. These allegations are made once it has already been declared NOT JUSTIFIED, and to make matters worse, they are made outside the established period for their formulation (we were granted 10 days in April). Is this not inaction? Is this political negligence?
Therefore, I conclude by asserting that we cannot accept that the neglect and disinterest in social content projects so necessary for the population of this island, for having been born in mandates of different political colors, are not attributed the effort, time and dedication necessary that this island deserves.
This island deserves high-level policies and politicians, who are part of structures and political organizations whose entrails ensure the general interests, regardless of the group or political color that defended, initiated or managed the project and whose sole engine is to advance and promote a more just and egalitarian society in the defense of interests.
Lanzarote does not deserve questions without answers, nor smoke screens that divert our attention. Therefore, from the commitment. we will continue working, obsessed with the firm purpose of returning to this island, my island, the lost time.
