A borough chief yesterday sued Kaohsiung Mayor Chen Chu (陳菊) for allegedly failing to properly maintain facilities that could have prevented a massive flood when Typhoon Fanapi hit the city.
Benhe borough (本和里) chief Lin Chi-mei (林紀美) said he had collected 1,200 signatures in support of the initiative to sue Chen and city government officials, and filed a complaint with prosecutors demanding state compensation for loss of or damage to properties.
Both Chen and Lin are from the Democratic Progressive Party. However, Lin, who has not received the party’s nod, is running as an independent for re-election as borough chief.
More than 1,700 households and 600 cars were inundated during the typhoon on Sept. 19, Lin said, adding that the principal reason was a malfunction of water pumps installed in the Benhe Water Detention Pond.
“The Kaohsiung City Government did not conduct regular maintenance of the water pumps,” he said.
Accused of “dereliction of duty,” Chen said she welcomed an investigation into claims that the water pumps were out of order during the typhoon.
Chen added that she would not cover up any mistake committed by city government officials in terms of maintenance and operations of the water pumps.
Chen and the city government maintain that the rain accumulated too quickly during the typhoon, overwhelming the drains.
In related news, Premier Wu Den-yih (吳敦義) said residents living in areas flooded by Fanapi would receive subsidies from the central government to install waterproof gates.
Responding to the appeal by Chen that the central government provide compensation for cars inundated during the storm, Wu said the Executive Yuan would look into the matter.
Chen has requested NT$1.06 billion (US$33.9 million) from the Executive Yuan in compensation, saying she hoped the central government would follow a precedent set in 1998, when Kaohsiung residents, with Wu serving as mayor then, received subsidies for cars damaged by floodwater.
However, the Executive Yuan issued a press release later yesterday rejecting Chen’s request.
The Executive Yuan rejected Chen’s claim that Wu had obtained a sum of money from the central government to offer compensation for people whose vehicles were damaged by the floods in 1998.
Wu requested NT$92 million from the central government, but received only NT$49.2 million, which was used to repair water-pumping and fire-fighting equipment and not distributed as compensation, it said.
It said that motorists whose cars or motorcycles were damaged in the flood could apply to get a refund for their license tax — calculated by multiplying the tax by the number of days during which their cars or motorcycles were under repair and then dividing the result by 365.
The Executive Yuan added that money used to repair flood-damaged cars or motorcycles — up to a maximum of NT$150,000 — can be used as a tax deductible when they file their annual income tax.
‘DENIAL DEFENSE’: The US would increase its military presence with uncrewed ships, and submarines, while boosting defense in the Indo-Pacific, a Pete Hegseth memo said The US is reorienting its military strategy to focus primarily on deterring a potential Chinese invasion of Taiwan, a memo signed by US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth showed. The memo also called on Taiwan to increase its defense spending. The document, known as the “Interim National Defense Strategic Guidance,” was distributed this month and detailed the national defense plans of US President Donald Trump’s administration, an article in the Washington Post said on Saturday. It outlines how the US can prepare for a potential war with China and defend itself from threats in the “near abroad,” including Greenland and the Panama
The High Prosecutors’ Office yesterday withdrew an appeal against the acquittal of a former bank manager 22 years after his death, marking Taiwan’s first instance of prosecutors rendering posthumous justice to a wrongfully convicted defendant. Chu Ching-en (諸慶恩) — formerly a manager at the Taipei branch of BNP Paribas — was in 1999 accused by Weng Mao-chung (翁茂鍾), then-president of Chia Her Industrial Co, of forging a request for a fixed deposit of US$10 million by I-Hwa Industrial Co, a subsidiary of Chia Her, which was used as collateral. Chu was ruled not guilty in the first trial, but was found guilty
A wild live dugong was found in Taiwan for the first time in 88 years, after it was accidentally caught by a fisher’s net on Tuesday in Yilan County’s Fenniaolin (粉鳥林). This is the first sighting of the species in Taiwan since 1937, having already been considered “extinct” in the country and considered as “vulnerable” by the International Union for Conservation of Nature. A fisher surnamed Chen (陳) went to Fenniaolin to collect the fish in his netting, but instead caught a 3m long, 500kg dugong. The fisher released the animal back into the wild, not realizing it was an endangered species at
DEADLOCK: As the commission is unable to forum a quorum to review license renewal applications, the channel operators are not at fault and can air past their license date The National Communications Commission (NCC) yesterday said that the Public Television Service (PTS) and 36 other television and radio broadcasters could continue airing, despite the commission’s inability to meet a quorum to review their license renewal applications. The licenses of PTS and the other channels are set to expire between this month and June. The National Communications Commission Organization Act (國家通訊傳播委員會組織法) stipulates that the commission must meet the mandated quorum of four to hold a valid meeting. The seven-member commission currently has only three commissioners. “We have informed the channel operators of the progress we have made in reviewing their license renewal applications, and
RSS