The University of Puerto Rico (UPR) has more than one month to deliver its Fiscal Plan. The administration of goernor Ricardo Roselló Nevares concluded after the transition hearing that the educational institution has the funds to make payments to debt service, suggesting that its fiscal situation is less serious compared to the Government Development Bank (BGF), the Electric Power Authority (AEE) or the Highway and Transportation Authority (ACT). All these instrumentalities of the Government delivered today, Tuesday, their Fiscal Plan drafts. However, none of these agencies was publicly pressured by secretaries of administration and the Governor to meet that deadline.

According to Roselló Nevares, the pressure on the UPR is because 'sometimes when you lose focus of all this, you say, And why did it come out of nowhere? And, before this began, there was evidence to demonstrate what was the intention all the time. We were in transition and the University of Puerto Rico was among the few who did not provide the information in an orderly way. The pointing to the people who left the University in an orchestrated way it's because they have responsibility. Whatever the plan they were going to submit, they had a responsibility, and to my knowledge even though it was for March 31, which is longer than the rest of the instrumentalities, they abandoned their posts because they did not have the direction or the interest to be able to develop that Plan. That's why I'm complaining.'

The Governor pointed out in an interview with NotiCel to a matter of control that they can excercise over public corporations or agencies, but not with the UPR, and anticipated that it is a scenario that could end with the Fiscal Control Board (JCF) making final decisions about the public higher education system.

'To have control would have been to get in touch, to put some people in order to be able to take possession of that Plan and establish the public policy. At the moment what I have done is to establish that the 300 million dollars of cuts, as they are called, do not have to be in cuts, they can be in increase of income and I have already given several alternatives, including from the Government side with an executive order where all agencies should contract ina preferred manner with the University of Puerto Rico so that it is the University who can provide services,' he said.

Regarding the fiscal plans being presented today, which also includes the AAA and the Public Corporation for Supervision and Insurance of Cooperatives of Puerto Rico (COSSEC), in at least two agencies, ACT and BGF, audits had to be made to present suggestions, remarked Rosselló Nevares.

On the BGF, he again insisted that the banking part of the agency has to end because it has no liquidity. As of June 2016, the Bank's net liquidity stood at 238 million dollars. Regarding Roads he said that 'the past administration only calculated a few months of budget for this corporation instead of the whole year, leaving a precarious situation.' At the moment, the ACT maintains a debt of 2 billion dollars for lines of credit, which have not yet been paid. The agency has survived by the arbitrage revenue to oil and its derivatives, cigarette arbitrage and an increase in vehicle registration renewal rights, but more than 500 million dollars remain in accounts payable to suppliers.

On the other hand, the Executive warned that 'in Electric Power there is still no control, and therefore, we need to see what the (corporation's) Board is doing right now and the Executive Director; but everything that is within our control, we are going to comply and submit a Fiscal Plan for all these instrumentalities, and after that, on February 28, I will submit the Fiscal Plan for all Puerto Rico.'

The taking over of the AEE is already underway since the Legislature, specifically Representative Jorge Navarro Suárez, presented a positive report on the 475 bill, which re-establishes the existing structure on the public corporation's Governing Board so that the Executive can appoint their members. In addition, the Executive Director of the Financial Advisory Authority and Fiscal Agency of Puerto Rico (AAFAF), Gerardo Portela, notified that under Law 2-2017, this unit and its advisors are empowered to negotiate, renegotiate and restructure the debt of the AEE. Following the notification, the chairman of the AEE Governing Board, Luis R. Benítez, confirmed that the company contracted for the restructuring, AlixPartners, completed its contract on February 15, 2017.

In the case of the AAA, although during the transitional hearings the former executive director, Alberto Lázaro, explained that the corporation was going through a 'delicate moment' to change its chief because of negoyiations with bindholders, the Governing Board of the public corporation ruled in favor of his involuntary separation and termination of his appointment although he had two years left in the job. Aqueduct needed about $210 million to comply with some consent agreements with the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) as well as $3 billion to advance the Capital Improvement Plan.

Regarding COSSEC, the Board of Directors unanimously voted to withdraw their trust from executive director Sergio Ortiz Quiñones, appointing Doctor Carlos Méndez David on an interim basis until his successor is evaluated. Méndez served as vicepresident of the investment area in the Corporation. According to official data from 2015, cooperatives in Puerto Rico had a total of 954,531 members. These partners have approximately $8,651 million in assets, as well as a total of $4,588 million in loans. According to several estimates, credit unions have over 1.1 billion in governments bonds, the majority - over 700 million - are emissions generated by the BGF.

And so it follows that the UPR is pressured for a Fiscal Plan that reduces 300 million of its budget in two years, a cut suggested by the JCF to the Roselló Administration. For this fiscal year, the budget of the UPR is $1,469,531,000.

The outgoing interim president of the University, Celeste Freytes, proposed certain cuts several weeks ago to the University Board, before her resignation alongside seven provosts of the UPR system. However, the graduate student representative of the institution's Board of Governors, Gilberto Domínguez, indicated that the figures suggested by Freytes were discussed but could not be called a Fiscal Plan, since it did not explain how the items were chosen or where they left.

'I have been the only Governor so far, that I can remember, that has respected the University's autonomy. I have continued to respect it, they have made the change of interim president, and they're in that process. So my claim is that you attend this matter. It needs to be remembered that it is not an alternative not to present the Plan. If they choose to do so, they are exposed to a move by the (JCF) to implement a series of measures, which may be much more costly that what is being discussed right now', said Roselló Nevares.

According to Roselló Nevares, the pressure on the UPR is because 'sometimes when you lose focus of all this, you say, And why did it come out of nowhere? And, before this began, there was evidence to demonstrate what was the intention all the time. We were in transition and the University of Puerto Rico was among the few who did not provide the information in an orderly way. The pointing to the people who left the University in an orchestrated way it's because they have responsibility. Whatever the plan they were going to submit, they had a responsibility, and to my knowledge even though it was for March 31, which is longer than the rest of the instrumentalities, they abandoned their posts because they did not have the direction or the interest to be able to develop that Plan. That's why I'm complaining.'

The Governor pointed out in an interview with NotiCel to a matter of control that they can excercise over public corporations or agencies, but not with the UPR, and anticipated that it is a scenario that could end with the Fiscal Control Board (JCF) making final decisions about the public higher education system.

'To have control would have been to get in touch, to put some people in order to be able to take possession of that Plan and establish the public policy. At the moment what I have done is to establish that the 300 million dollars of cuts, as they are called, do not have to be in cuts, they can be in increase of income and I have already given several alternatives, including from the Government side with an executive order where all agencies should contract ina preferred manner with the University of Puerto Rico so that it is the University who can provide services,' he said.

Regarding the fiscal plans being presented today, which also includes the AAA and the Public Corporation for Supervision and Insurance of Cooperatives of Puerto Rico (COSSEC), in at least two agencies, ACT and BGF, audits had to be made to present suggestions, remarked Rosselló Nevares.

On the BGF, he again insisted that the banking part of the agency has to end because it has no liquidity. As of June 2016, the Bank's net liquidity stood at 238 million dollars. Regarding Roads he said that 'the past administration only calculated a few months of budget for this corporation instead of the whole year, leaving a precarious situation.' At the moment, the ACT maintains a debt of 2 billion dollars for lines of credit, which have not yet been paid. The agency has survived by the arbitrage revenue to oil and its derivatives, cigarette arbitrage and an increase in vehicle registration renewal rights, but more than 500 million dollars remain in accounts payable to suppliers.

On the other hand, the Executive warned that 'in Electric Power there is still no control, and therefore, we need to see what the (corporation's) Board is doing right now and the Executive Director; but everything that is within our control, we are going to comply and submit a Fiscal Plan for all these instrumentalities, and after that, on February 28, I will submit the Fiscal Plan for all Puerto Rico.'

The taking over of the AEE is already underway since the Legislature, specifically Representative Jorge Navarro Suárez, presented a positive report on the 475 bill, which re-establishes the existing structure on the public corporation's Governing Board so that the Executive can appoint their members. In addition, the Executive Director of the Financial Advisory Authority and Fiscal Agency of Puerto Rico (AAFAF), Gerardo Portela, notified that under Law 2-2017, this unit and its advisors are empowered to negotiate, renegotiate and restructure the debt of the AEE. Following the notification, the chairman of the AEE Governing Board, Luis R. Benítez, confirmed that the company contracted for the restructuring, AlixPartners, completed its contract on February 15, 2017.

In the case of the AAA, although during the transitional hearings the former executive director, Alberto Lázaro, explained that the corporation was going through a 'delicate moment' to change its chief because of negoyiations with bindholders, the Governing Board of the public corporation ruled in favor of his involuntary separation and termination of his appointment although he had two years left in the job. Aqueduct needed about $210 million to comply with some consent agreements with the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) as well as $3 billion to advance the Capital Improvement Plan.

Regarding COSSEC, the Board of Directors unanimously voted to withdraw their trust from executive director Sergio Ortiz Quiñones, appointing Doctor Carlos Méndez David on an interim basis until his successor is evaluated. Méndez served as vicepresident of the investment area in the Corporation. According to official data from 2015, cooperatives in Puerto Rico had a total of 954,531 members. These partners have approximately $8,651 million in assets, as well as a total of $4,588 million in loans. According to several estimates, credit unions have over 1.1 billion in governments bonds, the majority - over 700 million - are emissions generated by the BGF.

And so it follows that the UPR is pressured for a Fiscal Plan that reduces 300 million of its budget in two years, a cut suggested by the JCF to the Roselló Administration. For this fiscal year, the budget of the UPR is $1,469,531,000.

The outgoing interim president of the University, Celeste Freytes, proposed certain cuts several weeks ago to the University Board, before her resignation alongside seven provosts of the UPR system. However, the graduate student representative of the institution's Board of Governors, Gilberto Domínguez, indicated that the figures suggested by Freytes were discussed but could not be called a Fiscal Plan, since it did not explain how the items were chosen or where they left.

'I have been the only Governor so far, that I can remember, that has respected the University's autonomy. I have continued to respect it, they have made the change of interim president, and they're in that process. So my claim is that you attend this matter. It needs to be remembered that it is not an alternative not to present the Plan. If they choose to do so, they are exposed to a move by the (JCF) to implement a series of measures, which may be much more costly that what is being discussed right now', said Roselló Nevares.