From former governor and former senator Temístocles Ortega, in response to the article: https://www.proclamadelcauca.com/la-corrupcion-institucionalizada/
On June 10, Felipe Solarte published an opinion column in which he questions public corruption: “Regardless of whether it is a fact of the past and even minor in relation to the multimillion-dollar deals uncovered in previous and in this national government; and whether the person mentioned in various media outlets about the Supreme Court’s investigation into alleged irregularities in the procedures and execution of the works to expand the runway at the López del Micay airport, during the second governorship of Temistocles Ortega; The news gives rise to questioning the way of managing public resources, bidding and contracting…”
Former governor Ortega Narváez clarifies in his letter addressed to the editorial staff of Proclamation of Cauca and Valle:
“Just for real information: the López de Micay track was being done by the Civil Aviation before my governorship. 200 meters remained unpaved. The mayor asked to finish it. He made the project that was reviewed in 5 technical instances. The Governor does NOT review document by document, no Governor does. That project was contracted and completely completed. Today, 10 years later, it is in use and operating normally. DNP and National Comptroller They examined the entire process until completion and concluded that everything was well done. A prosecutor whose request for help I did not respond to, supposedly to be Governor of Cauca and then Comptroller General, makes the accusation that the project lacks the evidence of Civil Aeronautics, which was the one who had been paving the runway. That is the issue: contract without compliance with legal requirements. I have nothing to do with all that, other than the fact that I was Governor at that time and legal representative of the department and having signed the award of the process that was carried out in different agencies: Municipality of López de MicayDepartmental Planning Secretariat, Departmental Infrastructure Secretariat, Secretariat of the OCAD PacificDNP, Mintransporte.
The Court, now that it has passed into its jurisdiction, will end up archiving it. Many works on the Pacific Coast and Cauca were done during my Governorship – more than in any other. All well made, received and working. To the University of Cauca, his research projects were financed, which he developed with total autonomy, research must be autonomous. They are the ones who know about that. Nobody interferes in their projects other than them. Among those are the soils and pastures of Patía, I repeat: designed, formulated and executed by the University of Cauca and its researchers. A part of the royalty resources, by mandate of the Law, must be executed in Science and Technology and that is done by universities and research centers. The best investment of the country’s royalty resources was made in Cauca during my administration. It wasn’t a billion and a half pesos. The data is public and is in DNP and the Treasury. He Contract Plan It was a program managed by me (different from royalties) and executed in the North of Cauca, it could have been any other area. I decided to go north. They were 620,000 million pesos (500,000 from the nation, 80,000 from the department and 40,000 from the municipalities). The works contracted during my administration were all done, at the end of my term, other works were contracted, and they are still being carried out. Excessive delay. After that investment there has NOT been another of that magnitude, nor similar in the North of Cauca, nor in the department, except the Popayán-Quilichao dual carriageway, also hired by the Nation and during my administration, and delayed by already known problems that were fortunately overcome. The work was maintained thanks in large part to my management so that the initial contract was not resolved (terminated). If that contract is terminated, the work would not be done because the entire process, which is very slow and complex, would have to be started again from scratch (also the studies and designs of the Popayán-Pasto work They were made during my management, 11 years have passed and there is still no contract) in Quilichao-Popayán. The contract had to be maintained and a transfer and a new concessionaire obtained, which was finally achieved. That’s why it was fortunately able to start. No work, no investment is easy in this country, especially in a department like Cauca, whose specific weight in the nation is not recognized compared to others that have better options for multiple reasons. A little long, but that’s what has happened in these issues.
A hug.”
