Ministers and the heads of the nation’s government offices yesterday reacted to news of the legislature’s historic budget suspensions with condemnations and complaints, saying that the cuts would hurt policies, personnel and disadvantaged Taiwanese.
Ocean Affairs Council (OAC) Minister Kuan Bi-ling (管碧玲) told a news conference that the Coast Guard Administration might not be able to pay shipbuilders after lawmakers suspended large swathes of the council’s budget.
The Legislative Yuan’s budget slashed NT$1.07 billion (US$32.65 million) from the council’s budget and suspended another NT$1.24 billion, the steepest decrease of its budget in OAC history, she said.
Photo: CNA
“We cannot put this on tab,” she added.
The Coast Guard Administration serves a vital national security role that requires significant amounts of funding for ship maintenance, repair and construction to keep up with China, Kuan said.
“We were already falling behind our adversary even if proposed budget increases had been approved, and now we for sure would not be able to stop them,” she said.
Writing in a social media post, the Ministry of Labor said the legislature’s cuts to its budget would cause a litany of woes, including difficulty paying civil servants and maintaining the government’s basic functions.
The legislature deleted or suspended NT$28 million for small and medium-sized enterprises to pay for child care leave, NT$157.8 million to pay 400 ministry employees, and NT$10.6 million for utilities, as well as the building and maintenance of digital systems.
Legislators additionally froze 60 percent of the ministry’s budget that was earmarked to inform the public about workers’ economic relief loans, labor insurance, unemployment benefits, childbirth subsidies and industrial safety, it said.
Separately, the Presidential Office distributed a letter to employees apologizing for not handing out traditional Lunar New Year gifts and bonuses due to the legislature’s budget cuts.
Presidential Office Secretary-General Pan Men-an (潘孟安) was cited by Central News Agency as saying in the document that President William Lai (賴清德) regretted not being able to pay civil servants bonuses for their hard work.
The legislature slashed or suspended more than NT$200 million from the office’s budget, or about 70 percent of the allocation the government had proposed.
These included the discretionary funds earmarked for gifts and cash bonuses to government personnel and underprivileged children for the Lunar New Year holidays, Dragon Boat Festival and Mid-Autumn Festival, Peng said.
A Presidential Office employee speaking on condition of anonymity confirmed that presidents typically pay workers Lunar New Year holiday bonuses at the beginning of the year.
Presidential Office workers felt aggrieved despite expecting that the opposition parties’ budget bill might mean the loss of their bonuses, the employee added.
Every president from Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) to Lai has made use of the discretionary budget to buy products from charities, sources said.
The Taipei Autism Children Welfare Foundation, the Garden of Hope Foundation and the Eden Social Welfare Foundation were among the charities that received contracts for furnishing gifts last year, they said.
The president’s gift list recipients include the civil servants assigned to the Presidential Office, the military police’s 211th battalion, the Taipei City Police Department’s 1st and 2nd Zhongshan Precincts, 242 elementary schools in indigenous-majority communities and 400 shelters for people with disabilities, they said.
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