Valencia asks the government for more resources in the Budget and warns about the autonomy of the Public Prosecutor's Office, the Electoral Service (Servel), and the Comptroller General

Vice President Claudio Alvarado received National Prosecutor Ángel Valencia at La Moneda this Friday, along with the institution's executive director, Mónica Naranjo, and a delegation of regional prosecutors. The meeting took place amid the discussion of the 2027 Budget and the Public Prosecutor's Office's concern over funding for the Supraterritorial Prosecutor's Office and the Organized Crime and Homicide Unit (ECOH). Valencia spoke to the press after the meeting and provided some details about the breakfast meeting with the government authority and the efforts they are making to safeguard institutional autonomy within the framework of the budget discussion. The national prosecutor stated that they raised with the Interior Minister and the Secretary General of Government "the need to supplement or increase the resources being allocated" for the implementation of the Public Prosecutor's Office Strengthening Law, which involves increasing the number of prosecutors throughout the country. "And in addition to that, with the second year of implementation of the Supraterritorial Prosecutor's Office, we have conveyed to the Interior Minister our concern about the fact that the proposal presented by Finance considers fewer resources than those that had been approved by Congress," he recounted. He also pointed out that they share this concern over funding with the Electoral Service (Servel) and the Comptroller General of the Republic. Along those lines, he indicated that he spoke "on behalf of" the Comptroller General of the Republic, Dorothy Pérez, and the president of the Servel's Directive Council, Pamela Figueroa. "To convey a concern about a matter that is a matter of State, which is also addressed in the budget law and which has to do with a set of glosses or mentions incorporated into the budget law that, in our view, are outright incompatible with our constitutional order regarding the way in which the Ministry of Finance and, in particular, the Budget Directorate should relate to the Public Prosecutor's Office, the Electoral Service, and the Comptroller General of the Republic," Valencia explained. And he emphasized: "That is a different matter, of another order; it is a matter, I insist, a matter of State that has to do with the protection of our institutions." The head of the Public Prosecutor's Office stated that there was a "frank" dialogue and that "it remains open, with a willingness to seek a solution like the one Chileans need regarding these matters." "The issue of the powers of the Budget Directorate (Dipres) that are being attempted to be incorporated into this budget bill is a matter of State, a delicate one, both for the Comptroller's Office and for Servel and the Public Prosecutor's Office. I insist, these are matters that we believe are not compatible with our constitutional order. But it is a bill that remains open, in which innovation is also taking place; it is a matter that is not found in our previous laws," he noted. Valencia stated that after expressing this concern, the dialogue must continue during the discussion of the bill in Congress.