What gifts can a deputy receive? The 31 people who make up the current provincial organization have a tab in the records of Diputación’s corporate web page, where they must post the gifts they have received by the public authorities. Less than half of this section of the website has been updated, as none of the socialists or five of the PP (second vice president Ana Serna, Sebastián Cañadas, José Ramón González de Zárate, Juan de Dios Navarro, and Miguel Ángel Sánchez) did. Socialist spokesperson Toni Frances assures her group won’t post because it doesn’t accept gifts. While there are many curiosities when it comes to acceptors, most of the gifts are gastronomic or cultural items.
As it makes sense, the president who receives the most gifts is Carlos Mazón. In 2021 alone, he posted up to 64 gifts in his file on the Diputación website. The bulk of these 64 gifts are concentrated in December, when they occur on the occasion of Christmas celebrations. Between them, Counts up to 26 baskets Under the heading “land food products” from towns such as Valencia, Castellón, Orihuela, Xixona or Almería. December is also provided for Mazón to buy calendars, the lottery or different copies of the books for this 2022.
after the president Bernabé Cano, the next deputy with the most gifts posted online, is another of its star products with nine gifts, including novels, calendars, candies, sweet treats or bottles of wine. After Cano, Teresa Belmonte, María Gómez and Francisco Javier Sendra show up with eight gifts; Eduardo Dolón, the popular spokesperson for the seven; six of them Julia Parra, the first vice president of Ciudadanos; the popular Mari Carmen Jover and Juan Bautista Roselló and Compomís spokesperson Gerard Fullana, with three gifts; two gifts appear in the file of the popular Alejandro Morant; and the list was closed by Cs spokesperson Javier Gutiérrez with only one list.
Absence
It is noteworthy that there are no published gifts in the records of the fourteen socialist deputies who are still part of the Diputación. As this matter requires, Frances assures that this is not due to a breach of transparency. “We do not receive gifts in any way, and as mayor I do not accept them. I deposit the books they give me, for example, at City Hall. We understand that the gifts they give us are for institutions. Both I as spokesperson and my colleagues on the City Council apply the same criteria,” says the mayor of Alcoy.
They insist that it is very important to comply with the laws regarding transparency from the C’s. In fact, Vice President Parra is responsible for this area in the organization’s organizational chart and invites other MPs to set an example. «At the beginning of each authorization, information is communicated to us what we need to spread on the portal. There are data published ex officio, such as statement of assets and activities and gross salary. Others, such as gifts or trips outside of the Community of Valencia, need to be provided by the parties involved”, explains Parra about the operation of the Transparency portal.
In the PP they are confronting the Provincial Assembly’s keenness in sharing information with the public. Its spokesperson, Eduardo Dolón, puts it this way: “We are making significant efforts for closeness and transparency. Once the mechanisms are in place, the groups must conform to make them effective. “If we’re going to talk about transparency, we need to bring it to life,” he said.
Finally, Gerard Fullana, spokesperson for Compomís, points out that only three gifts appeared in his file in four years, because it was usually members of the government team that received the gifts. Among these gifts, beyond the dominance of gastronomic products and books, emerge curious objects such as cell phone chargers or sportswear.
Source: Informacion
