Faced with a possible Control Yuan investigation over the Taipei City Government’s improper use of its public housing budget, Taipei Mayor Ko Wen-je (柯文哲) yesterday said that he would not worry too much about being investigated, and that being probed by the agency during his time as a physician actually helped him become Taipei mayor.
Ko made the remark at a forum in New Taipei City’s Yonghe District (永和), where he discussed with legislative candidates his political beliefs and possibilities of improving collaborations between the two municipalities.
Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Taipei City Councilor Chen Yung-te (陳永德) on Friday said that the KMT Taipei City Council caucus would file a report with the Control Yuan concerning the city government’s inappropriate use of funds, which it said totaled NT$15 million (US$454,476), and ask that Ko be probed.
Photo: Chung Hung-liang, Taipei Times
The city government’s unauthorized use of the fund was illegal and disdainful, Chen said.
In response to media queries yesterday on whether he was worried about the possible investigation, Ko said: “I became mayor because I was investigated by the Control Yuan.”
Ko was referring to an incident in which the National Taiwan University Hospital negligently transplanted the organs of AIDS patients, for which Ko, who helped design the registration system for organ transplants, nearly got impeached by the Control Yuan.
Ko had protested the punishment handed by the Control Yuan numerous times, citing a loophole in the system and likening the impeachment, later nullified by a grand justice, to a “public trial” conducted by the Chinese Communist Party.
Ko later said that he is on a crusade to change Taiwanese culture, to “fulfill Chiang Wei-shui’s (蔣渭水) destiny,” which is why he has agreed to be interviewed by reporters every day, because he wants to be a promoter of culture rather than a political leader.”
Chiang was a pioneer of Taiwanese democracy and human rights and was responsible for founding the Taiwan People’s Party (台灣民眾黨), the nation’s first modern political party, and the first Taiwanese Federation of Workers’ Unions. He died from typhoid fever under the former Taiwan Governer-General’s Office watch.
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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