Legislators from the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) and the Taiwan Solidarity Union (TSU) are calling for amendments to the Act on Property Declaration by Public Servants (公職人員財產申報法) and the Political Donation Act (政治獻金法) to make the information regulated by both acts more transparent to the public.
DPP Legislator Chen Chi-mai (陳其邁) and TSU Legislator Huang We-ling (黃文玲) have already recently submitted draft amendments seeking to make information on property declarations more transparent.
Current regulations stipulate that all elected public officials; the ministers and deputy ministers of the five Yuans; public functionaries; executives in the 10th to 14th level pay-grade; the chairman and supervisors of state-owned corporations; presidents and vice-chancellors of public schools, military officers above the rank of colonel; judges and prosecutors; government ethics department personnel and other executives in unique positions must declare their property.
However, the property declarations made the president, vice president, the ministers and deputy ministers of the five Yuans, the mayors of the five special municipalities, county commissioners, legislators and public functionaries are exempt from publication on the Control Yuan Web site.
Control Yuan regulations stipulate that to gain access to the information, individuals need to visit the Control Yuan, and be 20 years or older. People are only allowed 30 minutes to peruse the information, cannot copy, scan, or take pictures of the documents, and can only request to look at the information of an individual once per year.
Legislators were also dissatisfied with regulations set by the Political Donation Act that require only income statements approved by accountants to be published for public perusal on the Internet and not the entire donation list.
To apply for detailed information on donations, an individual must visit the Control Yuan in person, and each application is subject to a NT$20 charge. Re-printing of the data is costs an additional NT$2 per page.
The draft amendment submitted by Huang called for the inclusion of executives in the 10th to 14th level pay-grade, the chairman and supervisors of state-owned corporations, presidents and vice-chancellors of public schools, as well as military officers above the rank of colonel on the list of those who must have their property declarations publicized online.
Chen’s proposal called for the publication of all civil servants’ property declaration information online, including those that are currently exempted. Chen also proposed a draft amendment to the Political Donations Act to publicize all itemized donation data online.
A strong continental cold air mass is to bring pollutants to Taiwan from tomorrow, the Ministry of Environment said today, as it issued an “orange” air quality alert for most of the country. All of Taiwan except for Hualien and Taitung counties is to be under an “orange” air quality alert tomorrow, indicating air quality that is unhealthy for sensitive groups. In China, areas from Shandong to Shanghai have been enveloped in haze since Saturday, the ministry said in a news release. Yesterday, hourly concentrations of PM2.5 in these areas ranged from 65 to 160 micrograms per cubic meter (mg/m³), and pollutants were
Taiwan’s armed forces have established response protocols for a wide range of sudden contingencies, including the “Wan Chun Plan” to protect the head of state, the Ministry of Defense (MND) said today. After US President Donald Trump on Saturday launched a series of airstrikes in Venezuela and kidnapped Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, concerns have been raised as to whether China would launch a similar “decapitation strike” on Taiwan. The armed forces regularly coordinate with relevant agencies and practice drills to ensure preparedness for a wide range of scenarios, Vice Minister of National Defense Hsu Szu-chien (徐斯儉) told reporters before a
EVA Airways on Saturday said that it had suspended a pilot and opened an investigation after he allegedly lost his temper and punched the first officer several times as their plane was taxiing before takeoff at Los Angeles International Airport. According to a report published on Thursday by The Reporter, the incident occurred after the flight’s Malaysian first officer tried to warn the Taiwanese pilot, surnamed Wen (文), that he was taxiing faster than the speed limit of 30 knots (55.6kph). After alerting the pilot several times without response, the first officer manually applied the brakes in accordance with standard operating
The New Taipei City Social Welfare Department on Thursday celebrated Paralympic competitor Chen Tzu-wei (張孜維), who received last year’s national Golden Eagle award for exemplary achievement by Taiwanese with disabilities. Chen, who suffers from childhood-onset muscular dystrophy, did not attend the first award ceremony held by the Ministry of Health and Welfare in November due to illness. Chen was formally presented with the award at the department, where he gave thanks to government workers for supporting his education and livelihood, the department said in a statement. Chen was raised by the Ai-hsin Home for Persons with Disabilities in the city’s Bali District (八里)
RSS