Popular Democratic Party (PPD) Secretary General Manuel Calderón Cerame said Governor Jenniffer González must immediately remove Family Secretary Suzanne Roig after her appearance Wednesday at a Senate public hearing. Speaking Thursday on El Nuevo Día’s "Lo de Hoy" podcast, Calderón Cerame said Roig lied under oath to the Senate during a hearing investigating how a company was hired to provide educational services through the Star Academy program.
"A government that respects itself, today before noon, Suzanne Roig must be dismissed," he said. The Senate committee is investigating allegations by Blanca Medina Díaz, former head of the Family Socioeconomic Development Administration (ADSEF). After being fired, Medina Díaz alleged that Roig harassed and pressured her to evaluate and approve a contract for NOLA Education and later do the same for Strategic Technology Advisors.
Roig and Medina Díaz gave testimony that senators described as contradictory. Senate President Thomas Rivera Schatz accused Roig of lying. On Thursday, Coccoloba AgroEnvironmental LLC denied having submitted a proposal in the invitation-only competitive process awarded to NOLA Education.
It demanded that the Family Department hand over the documents attributed to it or publicly correct the record, following Roig’s Wednesday testimony. Calderón Cerame called this Roig’s second public controversy without clear answers, and cited the PPD’s earlier call for her removal over the 2021 "Baby" scheme, from when she led the Health Department’s Division of Services for People with Intellectual Disabilities.