Life itself is a journey. We move to achieve goals, to advance and to return to our particular Ithaca. Also, and more so in our islands, we have to travel for work. Not as much as a certain PP councilor, who spent 21,700 euros on 14 trips in just 4 months, or as a certain former president of the Cabildo, who, assuming an almost Minister of Foreign Affairs role, understood that his obligations required him to travel to territories as diverse as San Antonio (Texas) with the far-fetched excuse that that town was founded by a group of Canarians, some of whom were from Lanzarote, or to South Africa to accompany a group of firefighters from Lanzarote to a championship, taking advantage of the situation to skydive, apart from traveling to Brazil, Germany, the United States, Peru, Cape Verde, England, among other destinations.
But let's get back to the matter at hand. A formal invitation was processed to an event held on November 5 in Tegueste called "Sharing the Future", organized by more than ten groups, collectives and political parties, specifically to participate in table 2 which dealt with sustainable tourism and housing. The pertinent instructions were given to the fellow Cabildo worker who acts as secretary in support of this councilor who speaks to you, so that she could process the round trip ticket. Publicly, the tickets were processed, and a decree was issued, as legally stipulated, which recognizes the right to receive expenses, per diem, plane or boat tickets and rental car. Previously, a report was issued by the competent technician, endorsing the need and relevance of the trip.
Despite the above, only the issuance of a one-way ticket and a return ticket was processed with the usual travel agency. The invoice has been issued on today's date, amounting to 31.84€ for one and 38.25€ for the other, having given the order that they be covered by the political group, despite the procedure having been processed in legal form.
I want to indicate from here my unwavering commitment to transparency and open government, and remember that all information on remuneration, per diem and travel is uploaded to the Cabildo's transparency platform that I presented on July 6 of this year. Even so, we are going to redouble our efforts to ensure that information is uploaded frequently, and in a reasonable time we can monitor all data practically in real time.
I also commit to initiating a process to make the agendas of the councilors public, so that it does not happen as in previous legislatures, when they met with businessmen who only defended their particular interests, or with lobbies that pressured in one direction or another, reporting both the gifts received and possible perks.
Without further ado, I place myself at the complete disposal of all citizens for any clarification or doubt, since my only commitment is to serve them, improve this island and fight for the environment, and I appreciate all the expressions of support received, especially from my colleagues in the progressive government to which I am proud to belong.
Not everything is valid in politics, and when there is nothing to denounce, the manhunt begins to attack the good name and prestige of people, with the aggravating factor that the attack comes from the one who speaks of "low politics" in the plenary sessions of this first island administration, enthusiastically joining the mud and noise.
We continue working for quality employment, for decent housing, for our primary sector, for diversification and re-industrialization, from the strictest respect for our natural environment, we continue working for care, for dependency, for co-responsibility, equality and non-discrimination, for transparency, participation and progress and the recovery of our island, much to the chagrin of some.
