The date for finalizing a bill on pension reform for military retirees has been delayed indefinitely, Premier William Lai (賴清德) said yesterday, citing the need for further discussions between the public and responsible agencies.
Lai made the remarks before leaving the Legislative Yuan in Taipei, where he had been scheduled to give an administrative report.
Lai’s report was delayed and the proceedings halted after Legislative Speaker Su Jia-chyuan (蘇嘉全) said more communication was required.
Photo: Huang Yao-cheng, Taipei Times
The military pension reform bill was initially listed as one of the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) government’s top priorities in the legislative session that opened yesterday.
However, the Executive Yuan had, following a discussion on Monday, reached a consensus with the DPP caucus to delay finalizing the Cabinet’s proposal, Lai said, adding that there is not yet a timetable on how long the bill would be delayed.
The issue requires further discussion among the Veterans Affairs Council, other agencies and the public, he said.
Lai did not give reporters a definite answer on whether the pension floor for military retirees, tentatively set at NT$38,990 — higher than the NT$32,160 floor for retired public-school teachers and civil servants — would undergo further changes, saying only it was among the topics to be discussed.
He added that he empathized with Su and lawmakers over their decision to break up the meeting after an incident earlier yesterday, when 62-year-old retired colonel Miao Te-sheng (繆德生) fell from a height of about 6m while climbing the wall of a legislative building in a protest against the proposed bill.
Miao was in a coma as of press time last night.
Earlier in the day, retired lieutenant general Wu Sz-huai (吳斯懷) delivered a petition addressed to Su after he was briefly hospitalized after fainting during scuffles that broke out during the protest.
Legislative Yuan Secretary-General Lin Chih-chia (林志嘉) accepted the protesters’ petition on behalf of Su and said he would distribute copies to lawmakers.
The legislature would do all it can to continue discussions on the matter and find a solution that is acceptable to everyone, he added.
The petition called on the Legislative Yuan to delay reviewing the bill on pension cuts for military retirees, because the Presidential Office’s Pension Reform Committee had broken a promise it made in May last year that a bill would not be tendered by the Ministry of National Defense before extensive communication was carried out between the office and retirees.
The bill on pension reforms for military retirees should be halted, so that it can be proposed in tandem with the bill targeting other workers’ pensions, Wu said, adding that this would help all pension cuts to be implemented at once, thereby preventing a scenario in which the cuts need to be amended later, as was the case with the DPP’s initial amendments to the Labor Standards Act (勞動基準法) in 2016.
TYPHOON: The storm’s path indicates a high possibility of Krathon making landfall in Pingtung County, depending on when the storm turns north, the CWA said Typhoon Krathon is strengthening and is more likely to make landfall in Taiwan, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said in a forecast released yesterday afternoon. As of 2pm yesterday, the CWA’s updated sea warning for Krathon showed that the storm was about 430km southeast of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan’s southernmost point. It was moving in west-northwest at 9kph, with maximum sustained winds of 119kph and gusts of up to 155kph, CWA data showed. Krathon is expected to move further west before turning north tomorrow, CWA forecaster Wu Wan-hua (伍婉華) said. The CWA’s latest forecast and other countries’ projections of the storm’s path indicate a higher
SLOW-MOVING STORM: The typhoon has started moving north, but at a very slow pace, adding uncertainty to the extent of its impact on the nation Work and classes have been canceled across the nation today because of Typhoon Krathon, with residents in the south advised to brace for winds that could reach force 17 on the Beaufort scale as the Central Weather Administration (CWA) forecast that the storm would make landfall there. Force 17 wind with speeds of 56.1 to 61.2 meters per second, the highest number on the Beaufort scale, rarely occur and could cause serious damage. Krathon could be the second typhoon to land in southwestern Taiwan, following typhoon Elsie in 1996, CWA records showed. As of 8pm yesterday, the typhoon’s center was 180km
TYPHOON DAY: Taitung, Pingtung, Tainan, Chiayi, Hualien and Kaohsiung canceled work and classes today. The storm is to start moving north this afternoon The outer rim of Typhoon Krathon made landfall in Taitung County and the Hengchun Peninsula (恆春半島) at about noon yesterday, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said, adding that the eye of the storm was expected to hit land tomorrow. The CWA at 2:30pm yesterday issued a land alert for Krathon after issuing a sea alert on Sunday. It also expanded the scope of the sea alert to include waters north of Taiwan Strait, in addition to its south, from the Bashi Channel to the Pratas Islands (Dongsha Islands, 東沙群島). As of 6pm yesterday, the typhoon’s center was 160km south of
The Central Weather Administration (CWA) is set to issue sea and land warnings for Tropical Storm Krathon as projections showed that the tropical storm could strengthen into a typhoon as it approaches Taiwan proper, the CWA said yesterday. The sea warning is scheduled to take effect this morning and the land warning this evening, it said. The storm formed yesterday morning and in the evening reached a point 620 nautical miles (1,148km) southeast of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan proper’s southernmost point, moving west-southwest at 4 kph as it strengthened, the CWA said. Its radius measured between 220km and 250km, it added. Krathon is projected
RSS