Media personality Frances Huang (黃光芹) is not to be fined for encouraging the donation of portable air-conditioners to rapid testing stations, the Central Epidemic Command Center (CECC) said yesterday.
Huang wrote in a Facebook post on Monday that the Ministry of Health and Welfare had asked New Taipei City, where Huang resides, to investigate her donation drive, after an anonymous report suspected her of contravening the Charity Donations Act (公益勸募條例).
The government was unwise to launch such an investigation, Huang said, questioning the rationale behind the probe.
Photo courtesy of the Central Epidemic Command Center
Huang said that she and some friends had only raised funds in private, without publicly providing a bank account.
From May 20 until Monday, she said that she and her friends donated 171 air-conditioners to medical personnel working at outdoor rapid testing stations.
As she had previously written about the donation drive, some people who saw the posts also contacted the Tainan-based manufacturer Hawrin Air Condition, which donated nearly 300 air-conditioners, including the 171 from her and her friends, Huang said.
As the company donated the air-conditioners without charging them, she and her friends donated about NT$482,900 so that agencies in Taipei, New Taipei City, Tainan and Changhua County could purchase medical supplies, she said.
Huang said that she was glad to see so many people donate medical supplies, especially former minister of transportation and communications Lin Chia-lung’s (林佳龍) fundraiser to purchase 80 negative pressure isolation units from Japan and entertainer Jia Yong-jie’s (賈永婕) fundraiser to buy 342 high-flow nasal cannula machines for hospitals.
While her and her friends’ donations could not match Lin’s and Jia’s, she believes that they share the same good intention, she said.
Deputy Minister of the Interior Chen Tsung-yen (陳宗彥), who is deputy head of the center, said yesterday that the government had told Huang that she would not be fined, as she had not contravened any law.
“However, people who want to collect funds publicly should be aware of the regulations,” he said.
On Monday, the ministry said that a letter arrived at the health minister’s public opinion mailbox on May 25 about Huang’s campaign.
The ministry said that on May 28, it asked the New Taipei City Government to investigate the matter, and the city government on Thursday last week replied that Huang had not contravened the act because she had not collected money from the public.
Eight restaurants in Taiwan yesterday secured a one-star rating from the Michelin Guide Taiwan for the first time, while three one-star restaurants from last year’s edition were promoted to two stars. Forty-three restaurants were awarded one star this year, including 34 in Taipei, five in Taichung and four in Kaohsiung. Hosu (好嶼), Chuan Ya (川雅), Sushi Kajin (鮨嘉仁), aMaze (心宴), La Vie by Thomas Buhner, Yuan Yi (元一) and Frassi in Taipei and Front House (方蒔) in Kaohsiung received a one-star rating for the first time. Hosu is known for innovative Taiwanese dishes, while Chuan Ya serves Sichuan cuisine and aMaze specializes
STATS: Taiwan’s average life expectancy of 80.77 years was lower than that of Japan, Singapore and South Korea, but higher than in China, Malaysia and Indonesia Taiwan’s average life expectancy last year increased to 80.77 years, but was still not back to its pre-COVID-19 pandemic peak of 81.32 years in 2020, the Ministry of the Interior said yesterday. The average life expectancy last year increased the 0.54 years from 2023, the ministry said in a statement. For men and women, the average life expectancy last year was 77.42 years and 84.30 years respectively, up 0.48 years and 0.56 years from the previous year. Taiwan’s average life expectancy peaked at 81.32 years in 2020, as the nation was relatively unaffected by the pandemic that year. The metric
Taiwan High Speed Rail Corp. (THSRC) plans to ease strained capacity during peak hours by introducing new fare rules restricting passengers traveling without reserved seats in 2026, company Chairman Shih Che (史哲) said Wednesday. THSRC needs to tackle its capacity issue because there have been several occasions where passengers holding tickets with reserved seats did not make it onto their train in stations packed with individuals traveling without a reserved seat, Shih told reporters in a joint interview in Taipei. Non-reserved seats allow travelers maximum flexibility, but it has led to issues relating to quality of service and safety concerns, especially during
A magnitude 5.1 earthquake struck Chiayi County at 4:37pm today, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. The hypocenter was 36.3km southeast of Chiayi County Hall at a depth of 10.4km, CWA data showed. There were no immediate reports of damage resulting from the quake. The intensity of the quake, which gauges the actual effect of a seismic event, measured 4 in Chiayi County, Tainan and Kaohsiung on Taiwan's seven-tier intensity scale, the data showed. The quake had an intensity of 3 in Chiayi City and Yunlin County, while it was measured as 2 in Pingtung, Taitung, Hualien, Changhua, Nantou and Penghu counties, the data
RSS