Varela spent $2.5 million from April to June

President Juan Carlos Varela spent April to June 2018 a total of $ 2.5 million, according to the latest quarterly report published on August 20 by the Ministry of the Presidency. .

  Varela has spent $37.1 million of the discretionary item, in the 45 months of this government .

The report, which includes the execution of these funds from April 1 to June 30, indicates that 1.8 million dollars (73%) were used for local and foreign medical expenses.

The document details that this fund was used for the mitigation of natural disasters and the purchase of supplies to be distributed by the Joint Task Force; in works to solve the urgency of drinking water in the new Penitentiary Center of the City of David at $17,462 dollars; supply of air conditioners for the General Basic School of San José, in the district of Soná, Veraguas, for $39,303 dollars, and the purchase of educational furniture for $88,400 for the National Institute of Agriculture Doctor Augusto Samuel Boyd, in Currency, Herrera.

Sports iinclude $78,323 in air tickets for students of IPT Don Bosco School and IPT San Miguelito, winners of the third version of the Intercollegiate Cup 2017, who participated with the team of Altos de Los Lagos (Colón) in the International Cup Soccer tournament in the United States, stressing that  the sponsorship of educational, cultural and sports activities were allocated about c$263,758.

All the information will be available in the Transparency section of the website of the Presidency of the Republic.

Since taking office in July 2014, Varela had spent $ 37.1 million at March 31st but with this new report, the amount has increased  to $39.6 million.

The money spent by the president so far is higher than the discretionary amounts disbursed by former presidents Ernesto Pérez Balladares (1994-1999), Mireya Moscoso (1999-2004) and Martín Torrijos (2004-2009), but less than that Ricardo Martinelli spent (2009-2014).

Pérez Balladares disbursed $25 million ; Moscoso $23 million ; Torrijos $22.3 million , and Martinelli is at $55.7 million dollars, more than double that each of his predecessors.