The government may rebuild a demolished pharmacy in Miaoli County’s Dapu Township (大埔), Premier Lin Chuan (林全) said yesterday at a meeting with civic groups to discuss residential justice, workers’ rights, environmental protection and animal welfare.
“If the law permits, [the government] will definitely move toward rebuilding [the house],” Lin said, in response to a request from Peng Hsiu-chun (彭秀春), widow of the owner of the pharmacy, Chang Sen-wen (張森文).
The Miaoli County Government demolished the building in July 2013 to expropriate the property, and Chang took his life two months later, sparking a series of heated protests.
Peng and National Chengchi University professor Hsu Shih-jung (徐世榮) made the request during the third meeting between Cabinet officials and civic groups.
The Dapu land seizure is just an example of the nation’s flawed expropriation system, and a planned project to move railway tracks in downtown Tainan underground is another that will force residents to relocate, Hsu said.
“Expropriation should only proceed if it is absolutely necessary and all other means have been exhausted. It must be ensured that expropriation affects the least number of people,” Hsu said, challenging Deputy Minister of the Interior Hua Ching-chun’s (花敬群) statement that there would be no forced relocation to expropriate land for the railway project.
Hsu called on the government to establish a hearing process as part of the expropriation review.
Hua said the ministry is considering instituting the hearing process — although some questioned his commitment, as he had questioned the legality of holding hearings during previous railway project reviews.
“The government has to avoid expropriation as much as it can and minimize forced evictions when expropriation is necessary,” the premier said.
The central government has to draft guiding principles on expropriation, but it should not interfere with local governments’ autonomy, he said.
Meanwhile, workers’ rights advocates criticized the government’s planned amendments to the Labor Standards Act (勞動基準法), which would implement a flexible workweek policy and reduce the number of national holidays by seven days.
Taiwan Higher Education Union organization department director Lin Po-yi (林柏儀) accused the government of leaning toward employers over employees, adding that it has never responded to the union’s petitions, but instead, continues to hold talks with businesses.
The premier said the labor rights issue was too large to be tackled at the meeting, but added that the government does not favor employers and that its primary concern is to help companies that have not yet implemented a five-day workweek because their management is having difficulties complying with the labor law revisions.
Other issues discussed at the meeting included environmental protection, women’s employment and animal rights.
Although the meetings with civil groups have been criticized as aimless chat, the Executive Yuan reached a compensation agreement with former freeway toll collectors last week and yesterday promised to relocate students at Ciaotou Elementary School’s Syucuo (許厝) branch in Yunlin County who have been exposed to toxic emissions from the naphtha cracker complex in Mailiao Township (麥寮).
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