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DPP will oppose statute changes

The Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) said yesterday the party would "do its best" to stop an amendment to the Statute Gover-ning the Reconstruction of Weath-ered Military Communities (國軍老舊眷村改建條例) from passing tomorrow's legislative session.

After the party's Central Standing Committee meeting yesterday, DPP Secretary-General Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍) said the party had resolved to "combine opinions from all sides to show their disapproval of the amendment."

The amendment proposed by Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) legislators Chu Fong-chi (朱鳳芝) and Lu Shiow-yen (盧秀燕), which passed the first reading in a legislative committee meeting, will proceed to the second and third readings tomorrow.

If the amendment passes on Friday, the government will have to compensate veterans who accepted house renovation projects from the Ministry of Defense between 1988 and 1993. The costs could total NT$2.6 billion (US$79.4 million), a DPP estimate said.

Earlier yesterday, the DPP caucus overrode another amendment to the statute passed at Monday's National Defense Committee meeting.

That amendmen, would have required that the government cover house renovation costs for 430,000 veterans who live outside of military communities, which could have costed the nation another NT$1.3 trillion.

Two other amendments to the law have also been proposed by the KMT but have not reached the reading stage.

The four amendments altogether would cost the government about NT$1,500 billion.

Lin said it was "irresponsible" of the KMT to have proposed such "inappropriate" amendments, adding that the party had received complaints from workers, farmers, students and taxi drivers about the amendments, particularly from southern Taiwan.

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