The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) caucus yesterday criticized the Ministry of Civil Service’s actuarial report on pension reform, saying that it was completed in only four days and questioning its credibility.
Referring to the government’s more than NT$882.4 billion (US$29.35 billion) Forward-looking Infrastructure Development Program, the KMT caucus accused the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) government of “borrowing money for pork-barreling on the one hand, while rushing to cut the pensions of civil servants, public-school teachers and military personnel in the name of the nation’s financial difficulties on the other.”
“So far, we have only heard the government’s point of view about its pension reform plan; the voices of those being reformed has been absent,” KMT caucus secretary-general Alicia Wang (王育敏) said. “In addition, the actuarial report for pension reform was finished in four days, an incredible speed which has left us no choice but to question its credibility.”
“The report was made public on April 18 without the names of the actuaries involved being printed; the responsibility for authoring the report was put out to tender on April 13, with the bidding process concluding and a contract being signed on that day,” KMT Legislator William Tseng (曾銘宗) said.
“No actuarial model was provided and there was no third-party review. Is there any impartiality in the report or is it worthy of reference?” Tseng asked.
The Ministry of Civil Service tabled the reform proposal before April 13 indicating that the proposal was not based on the actuarial report, KMT Legislator Yang Cheng-wu (楊鎮浯) said.
“The report cost NT$1.2 million and was completed in four days, which included a weekend,” Yang said.
“Since it has become apparent that the actuarial project bids put up [by the ministry] have all been won by the same company in past years, we suspect that it simply used past data for the report this time and that is why no names were offered until they were demanded by lawmakers,” KMT Legislator Lin Te-fu (林德福) said, calling on the Ministry of Civil Service to re-examine the report.
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