During an inspection visit to Nantou yesterday, Premier Vincent Siew reaffirmed it would not be necessary to issue a new emergency decree to deal with the aftermath of last Friday's earthquake in Chiayi, since the terms of the emergency decree proclaimed on Sept. 25 can effectively cover relief work there.
In response to the Oct. 22 earthquake in Chiayi, the Cabinet-level Post-Disaster Reconstruction Commission is set to sit down today to discuss related relief efforts in the Chiayi area.
High-ranking officials from the Presidential Office said yesterday that if the cabinet follows the example of the Sept. 21 earthquake in coping with last week's quake, there would be no obligation to declare a new emergency decree.
The officials reminded the Cabinet to list "operational priorities" to help implement the decree. If these are carried out, they said, there will be no need to urge the president to proclaim another emergency decree.
After the Chiayi earthquake, both President Lee Teng-hui (李登輝) and Premier Vincent Siew (蕭萬長) announced Friday that relief efforts in quake-hit parts of the Chiayi area should follow the precedent of relief efforts following the 921 quake.
In accordance with instructions from political leaders, the Central Bank and the Ministry of Finance announced that both Chiayi City and Chiayi County could be eligible to apply for the same preferential financial measures as those areas affected by the 921 earthquake.
But the cabinet's stance has faced considerable political backlash from the legislative branch. Both KMT and DPP legislative caucus leaders yesterday appealed to the cabinet for further deliberation on its decision to increase the jurisdiction of the emergency decree.
"If the damage caused by the Chiayi earthquake was as serious as that of the 921 catastrophe in Nantou and Taichung Counties, then we certainly should use the same measures to help limit losses," said Tseng Yung-chuan (曾永權), a KMT legislative caucus leader.
"But it would be more reasonable if the cabinet decided instead to ask the president to issue another emergency decree to deal with the Chiayi earthquake, and obtain the approval of the legislature," Tseng said.
"The public would never object to relief efforts aimed at striving for timely action. However, the ends do not justify the means, and the cabinet still has to pay attention to due process," Tseng added.
Many academics agreed with the legislators, saying that even though the cabinet is willing to offer the most preferential measures to Chiayi quake victims, they still must obey the rule of law.
"From a legal perspective, the emergency decree announced by President Lee Teng-hui on Sept. 25 was the result of the huge damages wrought by the devastating 921 earthquake, so the cabinet cannot expand its scope as they wish despite their good intentions," said Hsu Chung-li (3宗?O), a noted administrative law professor at National Taiwan University.
Hsu said that with the presidential election just around the corner, "once the Chiayi quake victims are offered the benefits of the emergency decree declared for the 921 earthquake, then it would be very difficult to expect the government or legislature to turn down such a request."
In fact, Hsu suggested that similar preferential measures in response to natural disaster losses, should rather be regulated by special legislation than by an emergency decree.
"An emergency decree is an exceptional case ... it would be best for us to not actually apply its terms. Once we use it, it will always be suspected of being used as an abuse of power," Hsu said.
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