The Production Commission of the Congress has received unfavorable technical opinions on the project from the Presidency of the Council of Ministers (PCM), the Ministry of the Environment (Minam), the Ministry of Production (Produce) and the National Public Service Authority (Servir) of the legislator José Cueto Aservi, with that retired naval officers to be appointed President of the Institute of the Sea of Peru (Imarpe). Cueto took over the leadership of the Naval General Staff and his former colleagues have been at the helm for almost 60 years Imarpe an institution primarily dedicated to scientific research.
The Emergency Decree 015-2020 introduced the reform of Imarpe and created a public competition for the appointment of the President of the Board and some of its members, offering professionals in the field the opportunity to take over the leadership of the organization that had been under for six decades the control of former naval officers.
Taking advantage of the apathy of authorities who did not comply with DU 015-2020 and did not require merit-based competition, Congressman José Cueto proposed the repeal of this rule so that former naval officers can continue to lead the institution.
However, the public entities involved expressed their rejection of Cueto’s project, which is being examined by the Production Commission.
“We do not find it satisfactory that the (draft bill) ignores Article 33 of Law No. 29158, Organic Law of the Executive, and Article 52 of Law No. 300257, Civil Service Law, and provides that only the Executive President of Imarpe has the status of retired admiral of the Peruvian Navy; This is especially true since the explanation of the reasons neither explains the reasons nor justifies the proposal,” said the National Public Service Authority (Servir).
For its part, the General Legal Advice Center of Produce reminded the Production Commission of this congress that the Constitutional Court declared an unconstitutionality claim against DU 015-2020 to be unfounded in all aspects, which is why it considered José Cueto’s plan to be unfounded. That is, it is appropriate that the president of Imarpe be elected through a public election campaign in which former sailors can also take part.
The Undersecretary for Public Administration of the Presidency of the Council of Ministers also stressed that he could find no reason why the President of Imarpe should be a retired naval officer.
“In particular, it is worth noting that the explanatory memorandum does not develop or analyze in detail the implementation of a public merit competition (why it should be excluded), nor does it explain why it is necessary for the Executive President of Imarpe to be an admiral.” Retired Peruvian Navy officer,” the PCM argued.
Supposedly, Cueto’s project aims to strengthen Imarpe for “maximum sustainable use of resources.” However, the Ministry of Environment (Minam) questioned this concept, citing a lack of scientific support: “There is no information in the explanatory memorandum to support this reference.” (…) Furthermore, although it is essential to promote exploitation, it is “This must not have an impact on the biological dynamics of species, their reproduction rate, the decline of their populations, etc., especially in a scenario such as climate change and increasing acidification of the oceans,” emphasized Minam.
In this context, Jesús Nieves Valle, president of the Fisheries Technology and Aquaculture Chapter, agreed with the rejection of Cueto’s project: “There are fishing professionals with the ability to take over and manage the Imarpe.”
The positions must be awarded as part of a public performance competition. This is the only way to promote competitiveness and strengthen Imarpe,” he said.
