The Control Yuan yesterday approved a resolution without dissent to request Cabinet officials to report on the implementation of a civilian travel-card program for civil servants.
The 22 Control Yuan members, however, remain undecided on whether to initiate a formal investigation of the Executive Yuan's implementation of the program, which was drafted by the Council of Economic Planning and Development.
The program, called "Touch your heart, Taiwan," is aimed at revitalizing the domestic tourist industry and creating jobs, but Control Yuan officials decided to look into the program and invite Cabinet officials to report on the policymaking and policy implementation of the program after concerns were raised over certain issues involving co-operative banks and designated stores.
The program involves a credit card issued by one of 16 authorized banks to civil servants who then may enjoy discounts by using the card.
"The selection of co-operative banks lacked a public explanation. The stores at which card holders would enjoy discounts or bonuses with the designated credit card were announced without a transparent list of eligibility criterion," Control Yuan Member Lee Yeou-chi (
The media has also said that some public servants intended to capitalize on offers of the program unrelated to tourism, such as discounts on electronic products and gold jewelry.
"We felt obligated to do a study on the program and find out whether the policy would indeed benefit the overall tourism industry or just certain banks and stores," said Control Yuan Secretary General Tu Shan-liang (
Premier Yu Shyi-kun yesterday said that the Cabinet will continue to implement the scheme while making necessary adjustments on a regular basis.
"We won't change the ultimate goal of the scheme: to encourage civil servants to take vacations during weekdays," Yu said. "However, we'll review the implementation of the program every two months and make adjustments accordingly."
Yu made the remarks yesterday morning on the last day of his two-day inspection trip to the proposed Makao national park in Ilan County.
Responding to the Control Yuan's investigation, Vice Premier Lin Hsin-i (
According to Lin, every NT$1 million in tourism business creates one job opportunity for the tourism industry. If 250,000 civil servants spend NT$16,000 each during their trips, they would generate NT$4 billion in sales, or 4,000 new jobs.
Hsieh Fa-dah (謝發達), vice chairman of the Council for Economic Planning and Development, the program is not something new.
"It was first initiated in 1997 to subsidize the holiday expenses of civil servants and then modified in 2001 and again last year," Hsieh said.
In June last year, the Executive Yuan approved a draft measure to issue government workers a "civilian travel card," with the hope of encouraging them to travel domestically on weekdays in a bid to boost the tourism industry.
Under the scheme, cardholders will receive a maximum annual subsidy of NT$16,000 should they travel outside of the place they work and spend at least one night there.
Statistics indicate that since the inauguration of the scheme on Jan. 1, about 210,000 out of the nation's 480,000 civil servants have used the card to buy NT$2.2 billion worth of products as of June 30.
However, only about 37 percent of the money has been spent in tourism-related industries, which prompted the Cabinet to tighten the measure and ban cardholders from using the card at 13 different stores which sell jewelry, electronic devices, watches, eyeglasses and drugs.
The adjusted scheme will begin on Friday.
Hsieh yesterday also dismissed speculation that the change is a knee-jerk response to flaws in the scheme.
"Since it's a new program, it takes time to make it better, but that doesn't mean that it's flawed," he said.
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