The risk that Giorgio Jackson runs in the accusation that he faces once morest him in the Chamber of Deputies and that is voted on this Thursday worries the government. The Minister of Social Development must face the libel raised by the caucus of the Republican Partyin which he is accused, among other things, of “abandonment of duties” y “lack of probity”, as explained by the deputy Johannes Kaiser (PR), part of the group of deputies that presented the motion.
This has led both the ministers of La Moneda’s political committee and Jackson himself to reinforce efforts to ensure his continuity as Minister of State and, above all, to prevent the impeachment from reaching the Senate, which is where the former deputy he reaped worse relations while he was the head of the Segpres.
But not only that is what plays once morest him. Also – especially for the current opposition – the number of constitutional accusations that the head of Social Development supported, in his eight years in the Lower House, is not trivial, especially during the last government of Sebastián Piñera.
The count is not less: of the 14 accusations that were presented in total in his two terms as deputy, Jackson voted 11 in favor. The last one -in November 2021- was with a remembered transmission by live including while driving from Santiago to Valparaíso to approve the second libel once morest then-President Piñera for his role in the Pandora Papers. All because her vote was almost decisive. So much so that the PS Jaime Naranjo deputy was willing to speak for 15 hours straight to ensure that the then deputy came to Congress to support him.
Jackson arrived at Parliament the year 2014 as an independent, representing the downtown 22nd district. He was part of the “student bench” together with his current companions in the ruling party: the President of the Republic, Gabriel Boric (CS), the Minister Secretary of Government, Camila Vallejo (PC), and the deputy Karol Cariola (PC).
During his first term, he had to vote on three constitutional accusations. The first of these was in 2014, once morest the minister of the Supreme Court, Héctor Carreño, the one who was accused by deputies of the Socialist Party (Fidel Espinoza, Luis Rocafull, Maya Fernández), PPD (Tucapel Jimenez and Cristina Girardi) and Christian Democracy (René Saffirio, Iván Flores and Ricardo Rincón) and the independent deputy Alejandra Sepulveda for allegedly having hidden a report on violation of children’s rights of the old Sename. Subsequently -in 2015 and 2016- the right (Chile Vamos and independents) would present the libels once morest the ministers of Justice y Healthrespectively, of the second government of Michelle Bachelet: Javiera Blanco y Carmen Castillo.
In the first case, Jackson was once morest the previous question, the first instance of an accusation, and in favor of the accusation as such once morest Carreño, which was dismissed in the Chamber for not reaching the required quorum. Regarding the accusations once morest Blanco and Castillo, Jackson voted according to the New Majoritygovernment coalition at the time, rejecting the libels when approving the previous question.
In his second term as deputy –this time for the 10th district and as a member of the Democratic Revolution– things would change remarkably.
Prior to the social outbreak -which was where from now on the constitutional accusations became a recurring tool-, five authorities passed through the Chamber room: Emilio Santelices (2018)Minister of Health of the former president Sebastián Piñera, for the application of the abortion law in three cases; Hugo Dolmstech, Carlos Künsemuller y Manuel Valderramaministers of the Supreme Court (2018) -for releasing prisoners from Punta Peuco-; Y Marcela Cubillos, Minister of Education (2019). All these libels were presented, moreover, by the Broad Front, Jackson’s coalition.
In all these cases, the then deputy voted in favor of the accusations, taking with him a bitter feeling of defeat on all three occasions, since both in the case of Cubillos and the ministers of the Court did not reach the necessary quorum for it to advance to the Senate. , while Santelices convinced the deputies, the latter approving the first process of the accusation, the previous question.
After October 2019, the Broad Front launched a series of accusations. The outbreak claimed as its first victim the former Minister of the Interior, Andrés Chadwick, in November of that year, in what was a hard blow to the Piñera government. Chadwick was referred to the Senate, where his downfall was sealed, and with it, his ban from running for public office for five years. Jackson supported the impeachment in the House.
But, that would not be the great bastion. Only a week later, an accusation was voted -also pushed by the FA- once morest the then president sebastian pinera. Although she was voted down in the House, Jackson was once more in favor.
Piñera would be followed by the mayor of the Metropolitan Region for those months of the outbreak, Philip Guevara (2020), also accused by the FA for the containment and control measures of the Carabineros in the RM during the outbreak in 2019. The former minister voted in favor of the libel, but it did not prosper in the Senate.
In September 2020, Congress had to rule on the accusation presented by deputies from the right and center -such as Andrés Longton (RN), Daniel Vardiessi (DC)- once morest the judge Silvana Donosoof the Court of Appeals of Valparaíso, following the outbreak of the case of Amber Cornejo. She was assigned responsibility for granting parole to Hugo Bustamente, who murdered and dismembered the teenager. On that occasion, Jackson voted once morest the libel, making it the third time he had rejected one in his parliamentary career. The impeachment advanced to the Senate, but was dismissed.
Already towards the end of the Piñera government, four accusations were added: three once morest ministers, and one more once morest the president himself. In 2020, opposition deputies to the Piñera government brought two separate libels to the Chamber once morest Jaime Manalich (Health and Victor Perez (Inside). The first accused of its management during the first months of the health pandemic, while in the case of Pérez it was, once more, due to the action of the Carabineros and the institution’s protection of human rights –highlighted by the young man who fell into the Mapocho river, allegedly pushed by a uniformed man from the Pío Nono bridge-. Jackson voted for impeachment in both cases. However, Mañalich’s did not prosper towards the Senate, while for Pérez it did, it did that the former minister resigned from his position, despite having gotten rid of the accusation in the Senate.
Raul Figueroa (Education) was accused in 2021. The political trial on that accusation dealt with the opening of schools when the control of the pandemic was not a guarantee of the safety of secondary schools or their families, as stipulated by the deputies who supported the motion left and center-left (PC, Comunes, CS, PS, PPD, PH and Radical Party). Jackson would also vote in favor on that occasion, despite the fact that the accusation did not pass the fence of the Chamber of Deputies.
The last accusation, which was in November 2021 once morest Piñera, occurred following the dissemination of the Pandora Papers, which committed the former president to the Minera Dominga projects. This motion was raised by Jackson himself and voted in favor of him following he arrived in Congress following the 3:00 p.m. speech by the socialist deputy Jaime Naranjo -in the so-called Naranjazo-, waiting for the deputy to be released from the covid-19 quarantine that prevented him from attend the Chamber. Although the accusation passed the barrier of the Chamber of Deputies, it was later dismissed in the Senate.
Thus, Jackson’s record as a representative is as follows:
| Defendant/s | Year | Result Constitutional Accusation | Votación Jackson (for or once morest AC) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Hector Carreno | 2014 | Rejected (in House) | A favor |
| Carmen Castillo | 2015 | Rejected (in House) | Against |
| Javiera Blanco | 2016 | Rejected (in Chamber) | Against |
| Emilio Santelices | 2018 | Rejected (in Chamber) | A favor |
| Hugo Dolmesch, Carlos Kuessenmüller and Manuel Valderrama | 2018 | Rejected (in Chamber) | A favor |
| Marcela Cubillos | 2019 | Rejected (in House) | A favor |
| Andrés Chadwick | 2019 | Approved | A favor |
| sebastian pinera | 2019 | Rejected (in House) | A favor |
| Philip Guevara | 2020 | Rejected (in Senate) | A favor |
| Silvana Donoso | 2020 | Rejected (in Senate) | Against |
| Jaime Manalich | 2020 | Rejected (in House) | A favor |
| Victor Perez | 2020 | Rejected (in Senate) | A favor |
| Raul Figueroa | 2021 | Rejected (in Chamber) | A favor |
| sebastian pinera | 2021 | Rejected (in Senate) | A favor |
The accusation once morest the Minister of Social Development will be studied this Thursday morning in the Chamber of Deputies.
