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Supreme Court of Panama resolved the unconstitutionality complaint against Law 25
of 1990, it did not pronounce itself concerning the situation of the public servants
dismissed in application of the law because, according to the legislation, the
constitutional proceeding is purely of law and what is determined is whether in the
confrontation between the rule and the act regarded unconstitutional there is some
violation of the constitutional rules. Several factors were taken into account in the
judgment for purposes of guaranteeing the due process. In the first place, that it
was not a penal case, but a case where the appointing authority was given the
possibility to terminate or declare non subsistent the appointment of a given public
servant. Secondly, that it referred to employees not included into the administrative
career. For the Justices it was a problem that involved disciplinary law, since there
was a very clear distinction between penal guarantees, and the guarantees that
related to a disciplinary proceeding. He feels that if in this case the resolution of the
Cabinet Council would have been applied as a basis for some dismissal decision, the
unconstitutionality of the resolution could have been alleged in a warning of
unconstitutionality made by the attorney of the affected party. In this case the
official to whom the warning would have been presented would have been obliged to
consult the Supreme Court, in order for it to instruct, if it deemed that it was
unconstitutional, its non application in the case. However, this was not done. In
accordance with the impugnation system established by Law 25, the dismissed
workers who were not in agreement with the action taken had the possibility to use
the administrative mechanism through the administrative remedies of
reconsideration and appeal, leaving the administrative conflicts jurisdiction open.
The full jurisdiction administrative conflicts mechanism requires the filing of the
complaint by the affected party; the transfer thereof to the same authority that
performed the original action, in this case the official who ordered the dismissal; the
transfer to the Attorney General of the Administration in defence of the legal order;
and upon conclusion of this stage, or as part of the same process, the opening of the
case to be proven, once the complaint is responded to by the authority who
performed the contested action. He believes that five days are allowed for the
parties to announce or to cite the evidence that they deem appropriate, including
new evidence if they so desire. Upon conclusion of this stage to cite evidence, 30
days are allowed to produce it. The Third Administrative Conflicts Section of the
Supreme Court existed since before December 1990, and it also acts as the Labour
Cassation Court of Panama. He was not a member of the Third Administrative
Conflicts Section of the Supreme Court, and therefore he was unable to hear cases
where dismissal actions were contested in the administrative conflicts jurisdiction.
While he was the Chief Justice, the full Supreme Court received constitutional
guarantee protection remedies aimed against resolutions of the Conciliation and
Decision Boards, which flatly rejected reinstatement actions proposed by public
servants of the IRHE and the INTEL dismissed in application of Law 25. He had to be
the reporter in a civil rights protection remedy action where the worker asserted that
he had gone to the Conciliation and Decision Board and that it had rejected his action
in limine without having taken it into consideration. The Supreme Court resolved to
admit this civil rights protection remedy action and to order the Conciliation and
Decision Board to take the action into consideration and to decide on its own
competence after hearing the party affected. During his performance as Supreme
Court Justice, he participated in the deliberation of judgments where international
treaties were cited as law in force in Panama, as part of the constitutionality block.
This doctrine was an effort that they made as members of a Supreme Court that was
initiated amidst great many difficulties. A group of Supreme Court Justices had an
interest in reconciling internal law with inter-American law. The constitutionality
block doctrine became consolidated and is now very frequently applied by the
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