Spanish
Santo Domingo,.- The movement Participación Ciudadana stated this Tuesday that government spending on advertising increased by more than 500% during the first four months of 2024, reaching 3.121 million pesos from 491 million in the same period of the previous year.
The Dominican Republic chapter of Transparency International indicates, in a statement, that these are historic figures and that, although they decreased in 2025, they are still much higher than the four-month period of 2023, as they stand at 2.445 billion.You may be interested in: Low participation in public view on independent candidacies
It specifies that, among the institutions with the largest increases in advertising spending, are the Chamber of Deputies, the Ministry of Tourism, the Ministry of Industry, Commerce and MSMEs, Supérate and the Dominican Institute of Telecommunications (INDOTEL). According to Participación Ciudadana, "the hiring criteria, the distribution by media, and the objectives of the campaigns are unknown. There is no public traceability of the beneficiaries of multimillion-dollar contracts, which violates the basic principles of accountability enshrined in Law No. 340-06 on Purchases and Contracting." An opacity that, adds, "prevents knowing if public money is being used well or if it feeds clientelistic structures with hidden electoral purposes". Faced with this, Citizen Participation requests the Directorate of Strategy and Governmental Communication (DIECOM) absolute transparency with the "immediate" publication of all official advertising contracts in the first four months of 2023, 2024 and 2025, as well as the complete details of the contracted amounts and the benefited media, institutional objectives and technical selection criteria. In addition, it requests justification for each hiring in accordance with the provisions of Decree 1-24 of President Luis Abinader, which prohibits official advertising for propaganda, political or electoral purposes, and the Exception Procedures Manual of the General Directorate of Public Procurement. Proposes the strict application of both documents including sanctions for non-compliance, an urgent and independent audit of state advertising spending during the first four months of 2023, 2024 and 2025, the establishment of a permanent citizen monitoring system that guarantees the ethical use of these resources and binding regulations that strictly limit advertising spending in election years.
