Experts in security qualified the recent measure implemented by the national government of sending units of the national service of borders (Senafront) to the eastern zone of the capital city as a little dangerous.
The decision of the authorities was made as a response to the increase in criminal acts.
In that sense, the former director of the national police (PN), Rolando Mirones warned that "it is a little dangerous deploying, throughout the city and in a permanent way, people that are trained to work at the borders".
Mirones said that even though during his directing function in charge of the police the Ministry of Government ordered this measure, this was only executed at specific times such as Christmas, the Patriotic holidays, among other dates, during which the police presence was needed.
The former director believes that the decision is wrong because at this moment none of these holidays is taking place.
"The training of a member of Senafront is closer to that of a soldier and it is natural and has nothing wrong, as it is part of their nature and function", he added.
For his part, the former minister of government, Alejandro Perez, raised that the difference between a regular police and a member of the Senafront is the capacity of fire.
"Everything depends on the way they fight crime", he said.
Perez expects that the public force fulfills their work and that there is a higher police presence on the streets to ensure the safety of people.
Survey
According to data from the survey of TVN made by Dichter & Neira, 53% of those surveyed believes that the security during the administration of President Juan Carlos Varela will remain the same.
Meanwhile, only 16% believes it will improve, while 29% said that it will be worse.
Despite the latest efforts of the Government in the field of security, the results are not favorable for the current management.
In Mirones´ view, the population continues to feel concerned and believes that this is not going to change, because the comment made by President Varela is that we need to learn to live with crime.
"People already know the President´s way of acting and knows that things with him are not really resolved, he is used to disguising the problems", he added.
However, the former minister of government Alejandro Pérez explained that there is a huge amount of victims of criminal acts such as theft and personal injury that do not report these cases because the actions undertaken by the authorities are very slow.
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Low fundraising could generate cost-cutting
Until August 4,201 million 532 thousand dollars was raised, while the Government budgeted $4,457 million 298 thousand, i.e. 255 million 766 thousand dollars less.
The same scenario was reflected in non-tax revenues, which were below budget, 7.5%.
In August the State collected 795 million 617 thousand dollars, while the budgeted figure by the Government was $859 million 749 thousand, i.e., $64 million 132 thousand less.
For Augusto García, the Government has to be more efficient in the tax collection, there is an important difference in what they achieve and what they should raise.
"Now it will be the Government´s responsibility to slow down on the spending, however, they should establish policies aimed to reduce spending within the State bureaucracy that are important for the economy and not harming vital areas such as education, health and public works," he said.
The Canal, one of the pillars of the economy, on which the Government pins their hope, is not responding to the expectations.
In tolls and services of the Canal $251 million 609 thousand was raised, an amount lower to the figure that the Government had estimated would reach $267 million, i.e., $15 million 391 thousand less.
While, in annual rate of anonymous societies (S.A.), collection decreased in 17.9%.
Only $58 million 715 thousand was raised, out of the $71 million 487 thousand that the current administration had been seeking, i.e., 12 million 772 thousand dollars less.
In Professor and Economist Juan Jované´s opinion, the situation obliges the Government in some other way to generate some kind of cost containment, which could affect the population and reverse the growth rate.
"They are falling way below what had been budgeted and planned, and that means that in the long-run they will have that reduce the public expenditure, what will affect the population because they will have that get the money somewhere", he commented.
In terms of concessions, the fall was abysmal, 52.6%, because $43 million 626 thousand was raised, of the 92 million dollars that had been budgeted.
Despite these indicators, the authorities affirm that tax revenue grew in 10.3% compared to the same period in 2016; for economist Jované, there is a contradiction.
Against this view, Jované ensures that "this Government tries to live distorting reality".
"They are below what had been budgeted as income for this period ", said Jované, while indicating that this is what matters, comparing what is raised with what is budgeted, contrary to what the Government is focused on, which is measuring what was raised last year with what is being registered in 2016.
For the economist, the Government failed to execute the budget well, since they were based on the economic growth from 6% to 6.1% at some point, and today, after everyone has said that the economy was below 6%, Minister Dulcidio De la Guardia was forced to recognize that the estimated forecasts will not grow.
The specialist fears the consequences that a containment of the expenditure social may bring.
To the current problematic adds the promise that President Juan Carlos Varela made of increasing the minimum wage that some 35 thousand public servants earn, this initiative represents 60 million dollars, which will also be obtained from the containment of expenses in public entities.
Downwards Indicators
The reason that income figures may be below estimations is reflected in the indicators, which demonstrate that some economic activities are growing more slowing, and others are experiencing contraction.
According to the Comptroller's Office, the value of exports in Panama until August of 2016 fell in 8.1%, while imports fell in 3.2%, and trade in the Colon Free Zone declined in 10.2%.
Also internal economic pillars, such as construction, record drops. The value registered in new projects fell 15% until August.
