With almost 10 years in force, the President of the Republic, Luis Abinader, ordered the elimination of the Directorate General of Communications (Dicom), a body created by his predecessor Danilo Medina.
In July of this year, in the Dicom payroll of permanent employees the lowest gross salary was 30,000 thousand pesos (28,202.00 net income) and the highest, corresponding to the director, is 225 thousand pesos, and 172,225.11 (net income).
According to this payroll there are 102 permanent employees. RD $ 4 million 766 thousand 204.44 is the budget that carries the payment of these employees. While hired employees are 50, among which is distributed a budget of 3 million 300 thousand 693.99.
The Dicom was one of the first measures taken by Danilo Medina, former President of the Republic, a few days after taking office.
Specifically on August 21, 2012, five days after having been sworn in as President of the Republic, Medina ordered by decree 490-12 the creation of the Dicom, under the auspices of the Ministry of the Presidency.
The decree highlighted the progress of the Directorate of Information, Press and Advertising of the Presidency, as well as the Government Information Center, former bodies, but established the need that “the content of government communication goes more beyond the results “.
In the same way, it was based on the fact that the communication policy of the then Government “welcomes the new media map of our country” for which it provided in its article 1 the creation of the Dicom.
“The General Directorate of Communication (DICOM) of the Presidency of the Republic is created, under the auspices of the Ministry of the Presidency, which will be in charge of coordinating communication policies and the function of government spokesman. “, indicates article 1 of decree 490-12.
It was also established that the Dicom will be headed by a Director General of Communication, who will also be responsible for “coordinating government communication policies and their centralized and decentralized institutions, the management of the Government Communication System ( SICOM) and serve as a government spokesperson “.
Decree 490-12 did not indicate who would be in charge of this function, but three days later, on August 24, the 501-12 was published which designated Roberto Rodríguez Marchena and Rafael Ovalles as director and deputy director general of communications.
Marchena had already appointed, the day after Medina was sworn in, as director of Information, Press and Advertising of the Presidency and the Government Information Center, so that only the repeal of this was ordered. decree and the designation to the Dicom after its creation.
During the eight years (2012-2020) that Danilo Medina was in power, Roberto Marchena remained at the head of the Dicom, reaching, even at the end of his term, to be highlighted as one of the officials with the best evaluation.
Abinader
Contrary to his predecessor in office, Abinader decided to keep the Dicom structure the same, at least during his first year, and appointed communicator Miracles Germán in place.
From the beginning the decision had repercussions on social media, questioning Germán to take over as spokesman for the presidency.
But this changed with the publication of decree number 542-21, where Abinader ordered the elimination of the Dicom, the Directorate of Information, Analysis and Strategic Programming (Diape) and the Directorate of Information and Press of the Presidency.
And in it he also created the “Government Communication System” and the “Government Strategy and Communication Directorate”.
Next action, with decrees numbers 543-21 and 544-21, designated to Homer Algiers Figuero Guílamo like director of the System of Governmental Communication and Miracles Germán placed it like minister of Culture, replacing Carme Heredia, who will become an adviser to the Executive in matters of Culture.