The debate on whether to increase subsidies for elderly farmers took center stage yesterday at the legislature’s question-and-answer session on the government’s budget for next year.
Despite divisions on the rate by which the current subsidy of NT$6,000 a month should be -increased and on whether to exclude rich farmers from receiving the subsidy, no lawmaker speaking on the floor opposed raising the subsidy.
Premier Wu Den-yih (吳敦義) remained tight-lipped on the government’s position, saying a decision would be made after considering the nation’s fiscal status and fairness in subsidy allocation among various demographic groups.
Several Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) lawmakers accused Wu of backtracking from the campaign pledge he made when he ran for a legislative seat in Nantou County in 2007 that the subsidy should be raised to NT$10,000.
“Have you forgotten about this? Now that you are the premier and can deliver the promise, how come you oppose the idea?” DPP Legislator Lee Chun-yee (李俊毅) asked.
Wu asked Lee not to “deliberately ignore” the precondition for implementing the platform, which was “when the national treasury is in a good financial position.”
“The financial status improved, but it is still not enough,” Wu said.
DPP Legislator Chiu Yi-ying (邱議瑩) asked Wu if this was because “farmers contributed less to the country,” so their monthly subsidy remained at NT$6,000, while civil servants received a 3 percent pay raise on July 1 and retired veterans will get an increase of NT$600 in their monthly pension beginning in January.
“Beginning next year, a veteran will receive NT$14,150 a month. About 2,500 of them live most of the time in China. Is this what you called fairness?” Chiu said.
Lin Pin-kuan (林炳坤) of the Non-partisan Solidarity Union asked Wu to also consider raising subsidies for disabled persons and low--income families.
Lin said the party caucus would also propose an amendment to the Temporary Statute Regarding the Welfare Pension of Senior Farmers (老年農民福利津貼暫行條例) to compete with the DPP that suggested a subsidy of NT$7,000 and another amendment by Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Chung Shao-ho (鍾紹和), who asked for NT$10,000.
KMT Legislator Lai Shyh-bao (賴士葆) suggested including an exclusion clause in the statute to “ensure fairness” by preventing rich farmers from receiving the extra subsidy.
CHANGING LANDSCAPE: Many of the part-time programs for educators were no longer needed, as many teachers obtain a graduate degree before joining the workforce, experts said Taiwanese universities this year canceled 86 programs, Ministry of Education data showed, with educators attributing the closures to the nation’s low birthrate as well as shifting trends. Fifty-three of the shuttered programs were part-time postgraduate degree programs, about 62 percent of the total, the most in the past five years, the data showed. National Taiwan Normal University (NTNU) discontinued the most part-time master’s programs, at 16: chemistry, life science, earth science, physics, fine arts, music, special education, health promotion and health education, educational psychology and counseling, education, design, Chinese as a second language, library and information sciences, mechatronics engineering, history, physical education
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
Taiwan-based publisher Li Yanhe (李延賀) has been sentenced to three years in prison, fined 50,000 yuan (US$6,890) in personal assets and deprived political rights for one year for “inciting secession” in China, China's Taiwan Affairs Office spokesman Chen Binhua (陳斌華) said today. The Shanghai First Intermediate People’s Court announced the verdict on Feb. 17, Chen said. The trial was conducted lawfully, and in an open and fair manner, he said, adding that the verdict has since come into legal effect. The defendant reportedly admitted guilt and would appeal within the statutory appeal period, he said, adding that the defendant and his family have
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