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Pereira Coutinho has warned that the approval of the proposed law regulating civil aviation, which is expected to end the Macau airline monopoly, will be delayed. During the review meeting of the last legislative year, Coutinho once again called for social support for the elderly and consumption cards, and regretted the tendency in the AL to refuse debate.
Councillors José Pereira Coutinho and Che Sai Wang yesterday highlighted the delays in the proposed Civil Aviation Law, which continues to be analysed in detail by the Third Standing Committee of the Legislative Assembly since June 2023. Coutinho, a member of the parliamentary committee, warned that the process needs to be accelerated because the proposed law will risk becoming obsolete if a vote is not held in this professional field by the end of the year.
This view was shared yesterday at the press conference on the surplus of the third session of the Seventh Legislative Assembly held at the headquarters of the Macau Civil Servants Association.
“we have to [proposta] The Civil Aviation Act was put aside because they did not want to end the monopoly on air routes. The Secretary extended [o período de concessão da Air Macau]unreasonably, for another three years this will continue to be on hold. We do not know what the situation will be. I make this appeal because the current monopoly must end, because there are several economic activities under the monopoly system, such as freight, services or aircraft parking, “he said.
Still in the field of civil aviation, the representative said that Macau International Airport “actually only has domestic flights.” He said: “We hope that more airlines will fly directly to Macau, and we expect the second runway to be improved, but unfortunately, this does not seem to have happened.”
Regarding the work of the AL Standing Committee, Pereira Coutinho stressed that “four extremely important legal proposals have not yet been approved” and that the Tax Code is being reviewed by the Third Committee, “whose beard has turned white because he has been on the committee for two years.”
Regarding the proposal for the public procurement law, Coutinho added that “an exacerbating issue is direct adjustments, including holding public consultations” during the first standing committee.
“We believe that this is an activity that should be conducted through open bidding. In fact, even when certain works are carried out in emergency situations and only a few contractors have the technical capacity to carry out these works, direct adjustments must be better substantiated, but this has not happened,” he said.
AL does not comply
In the past year of legislative work, the two deputies submitted 119 documents, 84 written inquiries, 26 debate speeches, 4 inquiries to the Chief Executive and 2 debate proposals. At this point, Pereira Coutinho admitted to feeling “lonely” because he was one of the few deputies who made debate requests, but these requests have been rejected in recent years.
“I can say that I have been a champion of debate proposals over the past few years. And these have been rejected due to the irresponsibility of the deputies. Recently, I proposed a debate proposal that was different from other deputies, choosing the absence of government deputies in order to have an internal debate on important issues that affect Macau, such as employment, lack of resources. Life or the problem of electricity concessionaires.”
However, he recalled, “these proposals were rejected, which led us to conclude that the AL was largely uninterested in debating public issues, which was regrettable”.
Speaking about the work of the Semicircle, the deputy regretted that “he did not fulfill his duty to monitor the activities of the government”. “Just look at the fact that most of the debates we raised were opposed, and then in the questioning they did not respond appropriately, and many of the questions we asked did not receive direct answers. This also happened with the written questions we asked, the answers to which were irrelevant to the questions asked. This forced us to repeat the written questions”, he pointed out.
In addition, Pereira Coutinho also blamed the “quality of public governance” because there is a “problem that the government does not like to listen to citizens’ opinions.”
“You can see we had a year’s opportunity to expose the problems and get help to fix them. We were never asked, and they were never asked. [membros do Governo] Interest in holding meetings with us or accepting our proposed meetings, especially meetings with secretaries.”
In addition, some people mentioned “weak public participation”. “Except for the performance of public consultation, we are rarely invited to participate in important issues. We put forward our opinions, but we don’t know the results. Some are accepted, some are not, and they are not proven or substantiated”, the legislator added.
Return of Card
In terms of social security, the delegates once again called for additional funding for the elderly. Unfortunately, their monthly pension is only MOP3,740, “not enough to live in Macau”.
“We have repeatedly requested an update on pensions and benefits for the elderly, as currently 3,740 patacas is not enough to live in Macau. The government responded by saying there are monetary compensations and subsidies, but they are discretionary because the only fixed amount is the pension. The most typical example of the government cutting subsidies is the suspension of the injection of 7,000 patacas into individual social security accounts during the three years of the pandemic.”
Coutinho again argued that returning the consumption card worth 8,000 patacas was “to alleviate the suffering of the most needy families.”
On social issues, the Vice-President and President of the ATFPM stressed that “it is very difficult to find a job in Macau” because “all jobs are part-time”. In this context, Pereira Coutinho recalled that many young people choose higher education courses with low employability rates in the region, asking the government to intervene in the matter.
Furthermore, the representative stressed that there have been many cases of suicide in the region due to bullying in schools and companies, as well as financial difficulties.
On the gaming sector, Coutinho highlighted the investments that have been announced in Asia, the public consultation on Thailand’s new gaming law, and the need for Macau to know how to respond.
“Mainland Chinese citizens can travel to Singapore without a visa. The next ten years will be crucial. In Arab countries, they will legislate gambling. We have MGM in Japan. In Thailand, they are legislating the industry, which has aroused the interest of two operators doing business in Macau. Macau is getting worse and worse. Our feet and hands have been cut off. It is said that the non-gaming sector will solve our problems. I ask: non-gaming industry, how much tax does it pay? The government’s public expenditure is increasing year by year.”
Another issue Coutinho highlighted concerns the legislation of Article 42 of the Basic Law, which ensures that Portuguese society is free from discrimination. “I hope that the Chief Executive will be able to fulfil his promise in the future to regulate Article 42 of the Basic Law, which is related to the uses and customs of Portuguese society. 25 years later [da transição de Macau]It is time to have a law that does not discriminate us in any way, for example when applying for subsidies and when registering places for Portuguese and Macanese communities to carry out activities.”
The above-mentioned article of the Macau Special Administrative Region’s mini-constitution stipulates that “the interests of Portuguese residents in Macau shall be protected by the Macau Special Administrative Region in accordance with the law”, and therefore “their customs and cultural traditions must be respected.”
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