Why should the Colon Free Zone land not be sold?

It is well known that most of the land where the Colon Free Zone companies are located is reclaimed from the sea bed, and therefore is embedded in terms of private ownership within the constitutional prohibition stated in Article 258 of the Panamanian Constitution and it is known that the accessory follows the fate of the principal.

It is incomprehensible that today the Ministry of Economy and Finance has a plan for lobbying and making agreements with third parties to incorporate in the National Treasury the assets they get from the product sales which clearly would be unconstitutional.

The figure of the reversal on public lands, allowing them to enter the private domain and be operated at the will of the State through a public act that can disaffect a public property and turn it into the end result, is a heritage property of the State, and therefore susceptible to alienation.

However, the reversal must be applied by issuing administrative acts affecting a property, that is, if a law affects a property in the public domain, other laws may be disaffected. To say that a law can disaffect a public property is provided by the Constitution would not only be against nature, but would run roughly against the hierarchy of rules that prevail in Panama.

What is the hierarchy of norms in Panama?

Act 38 of 2000:

Article 35. In decisions and other acts that are made, celebrated or taken by public entities, the hierarchy of the provisions to be applied will be: the Constitution, laws or decrees having the force of law and regulations.

At the municipal level, the priority order of the legal provisions will be: the Constitution, laws, decree laws, decrees of Cabinet, the Executive decrees, Cabinet resolutions, agreements and city mayors’ decrees.

At the level of community boards and local boards the following hierarchical order should apply: the Constitution, laws, decrees laws, decrees of Cabinet, Executive decrees, Cabinet resolutions, municipal agreements, mayoral decrees and regulations, dictates of community boards.

Constitution

Article 17. The authorities of the Republic are instituted to protect life, honor and property of its nationals wherever they may be and foreigners under its jurisdiction; ensure the realization of rights and individual and social duties, and observe and enforce the Constitution and the Law.

The rights and guarantees enshrined in this Constitution will be considered as minimal and not exclusive of others that impinge on fundamental rights and dignity.

Article 18. Individuals are responsible only to the authorities for violation of the Constitution or the law as are public servants for the same reasons and also for exceeding their powers or omission in the discharge thereof.

From the above it is stated that a law can not repeal and points out by the Constitution the arbitrary act would be unconstitutional.

The full Supreme Court of Panama, involving (the Mexican Sothern Corridor builder and operator) ICA, in its judgment of December 30, 2004, resolved an issue by declaring: “If you’re filling a public property, such as the seabed, it is not consistent that these fills automatically become assets. If so, the State would lose one of its most important powers, such as the provision with the above with respect to public property.

“Because of the importance that the above implies by making a standard of any legal status, it should not transform the public domain property into private.”

I do not know why some of our authorities insist on wanting to violate the Constitution, so cruelly, with that of the initiative of sale under consideration, but what is certain is that these unfit acts, from the time they materialize, will bring a wealth of legal action against them and also against those who conceived the idea. glosa@contratacionespublicas.info