TSU Legislator Chen Chien-ming (陳建銘) yesterday urged his colleagues to pass the proposed national intelligence supervision law (國家情報監督法), which was submitted by the KMT's legislative caucus on March 23 last year.
"Law enforcement officers have a need to keep tabs on certain subjects. But there is no law to regulate them if their surveillance gets out of hand," Chen said.
The lawmaker made his remarks at a meeting held by the legislature's Judiciary Committee yesterday afternoon. The committee also invited Minister of Justice Chen Ding-nan (陳定南), Investigation Bureau Director-General Yeh Sheng-mao (葉盛茂) and National Security Bureau Director Tsai Chao-ming (蔡朝明) to answer lawmakers' questions regarding whether law enforcement officers from the three bodies kept tabs on the legislature.
Chen alleged on Tuesday that at least 56 legislative assistants are helping collect information about lawmakers of all stripes for the bureau.
He said that these informants' main responsibility is to update the bureau on their bosses' conduct in exchange for monthly rewards of NT$20,000 to NT$30,000.
He also said some legislative clerks and reporters double as informants and even heavyweight DPP lawmakers are monitored.
Chen said the bureau spends more than NT$50 million a year to pay such informants, with the payments disguised as consultation and fact-finding expenses.
At yesterday's meeting, Chen Ding-nan, Yeh and Tsai all denied the allegations and said that their agents do not monitor anybody without warrants.
The lawmaker maintained that his information came from a reliable source.
"You are implying that my source was lying to me. Say, if my source really lied to me and I am turning him in, do you have any idea how to punish him, Mr. Minister?" Chen Chien-ming asked Chen Ding-nan.
"No, you don't, because there is no law under which you may do so and there is no evidence. See? That's why I am urging my colleagues to pass the bill and make it law."
Chen Chien-ming said that he would encourage his colleagues to review the bill and hope it would be passed before the end of the current session.
The Central Weather Administration (CWA) today issued a sea warning for Typhoon Fung-wong effective from 5:30pm, while local governments canceled school and work for tomorrow. A land warning is expected to be issued tomorrow morning before it is expected to make landfall on Wednesday, the agency said. Taoyuan, and well as Yilan, Hualien and Penghu counties canceled work and school for tomorrow, as well as mountainous district of Taipei and New Taipei City. For updated information on closures, please visit the Directorate-General of Personnel Administration Web site. As of 5pm today, Fung-wong was about 490km south-southwest of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan's southernmost point.
Almost a quarter of volunteer soldiers who signed up from 2021 to last year have sought early discharge, the Legislative Yuan’s Budget Center said in a report. The report said that 12,884 of 52,674 people who volunteered in the period had sought an early exit from the military, returning NT$895.96 million (US$28.86 million) to the government. In 2021, there was a 105.34 percent rise in the volunteer recruitment rate, but the number has steadily declined since then, missing recruitment targets, the Chinese-language United Daily News said, citing the report. In 2021, only 521 volunteers dropped out of the military, the report said, citing
A magnitude 5.3 earthquake struck Kaohsiung at 1pm today, the Central Weather Administration said. The epicenter was in Jiasian District (甲仙), 72.1km north-northeast of Kaohsiung City Hall, at a depth of 7.8km, agency data showed. There were no immediate reports of damage. The earthquake's intensity, which gauges the actual effects of a temblor, was highest in Kaohsiung and Tainan, where it measured a 4 on Taiwan's seven-tier intensity scale. It also measured a 3 in parts of Chiayi City, as well as Pingtung, Yunlin and Hualien counties, data showed.
Nearly 5 million people have signed up to receive the government’s NT$10,000 (US$322) universal cash handout since registration opened on Wednesday last week, with deposits expected to begin tomorrow, the Ministry of Finance said yesterday. After a staggered sign-up last week — based on the final digit of the applicant’s national ID or Alien Resident Certificate number — online registration is open to all eligible Taiwanese nationals, foreign permanent residents and spouses of Taiwanese nationals. Banks are expected to start issuing deposits from 6pm today, the ministry said. Those who completed registration by yesterday are expected to receive their NT$10,000 tomorrow, National Treasury
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