Group says CPC stole their land

A group of people claiming to be landowners and their relatives gathered at a gas station operated by the Chinese Petroleum Corp (中油) in Wenshan District yesterday morning to demand the return of the land which they said the company has been illegally occupying for 36 years.

The company promised to look into the matter and participate in the public hearing scheduled to take place at the city council on Aug. 10.

"It's an old and complicated case. We need time to gather sufficient information," said Chen Chin-kuo (陳進國), marketing director of the company's Taipei branch.

Chanting "Chinese Petroleum Corporation bandits" and "Return our lost land," about 200 people holding placards and white cloth banners gathered at the Wanlung gas station located at the intersection of Hsinlung Road and Roosevelt Road in the Wenshan District to demand the return of the 560-ping piece of land, which has been used by the company as a gas station since 1965.

"When the five land owners pawned the land for NT$1.3 million in 1965, they signed an agreement with the company to buy back the land 30 years later in 1995," said Kuo Chin (郭琴), the wife of one of the landowners.

She added that although the landowners paid the company back NT$170,000 in 1976, the company in return filed a lawsuit in 1994 against them, saying that the company legally owns the land.

"It's too much that they not only eat the meat but also gnaw on the bones," Kuo said.

When the owners made an appeal to the High Court, the court ruled in favor of the company.

"There's no justice for the poor," Kuo said.

Ninety-year-old Tung Chi-shan (董岐山), Kuo's husband and the only landowner who remains alive, said that it was typical for the then KMT-ruled government, who he regarded as the responsible party, to do things in this manner.

The Chinese Petroleum Corp is a state-ownded enterprise under the Ministry of Economic Affairs, now awaiting privatization. It is expected that with the approval of a bill regulating the petroleum industry, the privatization plan will be completed by the end of 2003.

Hsieh Jung-chen (謝榮振), president of the Love Taiwan, Love Our Hometown Association (愛台愛鄉總會), said that this case is just the tip of the iceberg.

"We have documents to prove that the company has applied the same strategy to 28 other locations spread across Taiwan, and that the High Court ruled in favor of the company in 26 cases."

The company has about 80 gas stations in Taipei City and 500 more in Taiwan.

Hsieh called on the landowners of the 28 places to join them in a nationwide demonstration, the date of which has not been finalized.