An assertion from the deputy Pilar Cisneroscurrent head of the ruling party in Congress, preceded a relevant decision on the distribution of future legislators of the Sovereign People’s Party (PPSO) in the legislative commissions for the period 2026-2027.
Cisneros stated that the naming of the son of the elected representative José Miguel Villalobos Umañain a legal advice plaza Presidential Houseit is still a “care network”despite the fact that Villalobos stated that It was the ruler himself Rodrigo Chaves who offered him the position for his son.
“It is what it is: a care network that I have never shared and that I will never share“said the congresswoman, who criticized the appointment before Chaves’ intervention was known.
In July 2025, just over a month after joining the Bar Association, the son of the president’s lawyer got a position with a salary of ¢1.5 million in the Legal Department of the Presidency.
Villalobos maintains that it is a position of trust and that, therefore, Chaves has total competence to choose whoever he wants, just as he will choose his legislative advisors without the need for a contest.
“Mr. President asked me, because of the friendship we have, ‘Look, do you have a son who is already graduating??’. He tells me, ‘Here we have a space in the Presidential House and we would like a trusted lawyer‘“said the elected representative.
It is a different version than the one given to Cisneros
The version of Jose Miguel Villalobos far from what they had told Pilar Cisnerosas she declared in February in a radio interview.
“I asked (about the appointment of Villalobos’s son) the day they took him out and They told me ‘he participated in a contest and won the contest’. So, I say ‘ok, I don’t know that’. What do I agree? I don’t agree“Cisneros said on the program Interference from the University of Costa Rica (UCR).
However, the legislator did not specify who gave her that version.
Villalobos was not given the position he wanted
All this happened before, this Thursday, April 9, the PPSO announced the distribution of its future deputies between legislative commissions.
In the announcement, the most relevant information was that José Miguel Villalobos was left out of the Security and Drug Trafficking Commissiondespite the fact that he had made public his intention to join this important forum.
Previously, the Alajuelense had also been outside the presidency of the Legislative Assemblya position that Josephine will assume Yara Jimenezcurrent secretary of the Government Council.
Opposition deputies had considered inconvenient that Villalobos joined the Security Commission because of his friendship with the extraditable Carlos Manuel Solórzano, alias Chanchitawho had in his officein Ciudad Neily, the name of the elected representative on the sign.
José Miguel Villalobos, who admitted having a friendship with the extraditable man, has also been a lawyer for defendants such as José Giovanni Segura Angulo, alias Narizon, who was recently sentenced to 16 years in prison for one of the largest money laundering cases in Costa Rica.
Instead of Villalobos, the PPSO will send the Security and Drug Trafficking Commission to Gonzalo Ramirezlegislator for San José, former deputy and former president of Congress; Marta Esquivelrepresentative of Heredia and former president of the CCSS; Daniel Sizardeputy for Guanacaste; and Kattia Calvoby Limón.
Villalobos, former Minister of Justice of the Abel Pacheco government, was assigned to the commissions of Legal Affairs, International Relations and Constitutional Consultations.
Government strategy in the last days of the current period
On the other hand, in the last days of the current period, the government is trying to postpone several decisions so that they remain in the hands of the next Assembly, where it will have a majority of 31 deputies.
Such is the case of the choice of substitute magistrates of the Constitutional Chamber and the definition of Special Fund for Higher Education (FEES) of 2027, for which the Executive Branch is offering a 0% increase to universities.
