President William Lai (賴清德) today formally signed a set of legislative reform bills into law, but said he would seek a constitutional interpretation and temporary injunction to try and stop the controversial changes from being enforced.
The Legislative Yuan on Friday voted down a request from the Cabinet to reconsider the bills that were passed by opposition lawmakers late last month.
The amendments to the Act Governing the Legislative Yuan’s Power (立法院職權行使法) and the Criminal Code seek to expand the legislature’s powers of investigation, imposing penalties for holding the legislature in contempt and requiring the president to take questions from lawmakers.
Photo: CNA
As the legislature turned down the Cabinet’s request for another round of deliberation, the president by law is required to accept the bills.
In his first address from the Presidential Office entrance hall as president this morning, Lai said he has already signed the bills and would promulgate them later today.
However, aside from public criticism over the legislative process that led to their passage, the amendments also risk jeopardizing the separation of powers and system of checks and balances between the branches of government, Lai said.
He therefore vowed to file for a constitutional interpretation, as well as call for a temporary injunction on their enforcement until the courts can rule on their legality.
“Our opposition to this expansion of the legislature’s powers does not mean we are opposed to legislative reform,” he said. “The legislature needs reform, but its powers should not be expanded arbitrarily.”
Most importantly, the legislature’s powers must not infringe on the people’s basic rights to privacy, trade secrets and the right to remain silent, he added.
Seven of the 17 NT$10 million (US$311,604) winning receipts from the November-December uniform invoice lottery remain unclaimed as of today, the Ministry of Finance said, urging winners to redeem their prizes by May 5. The reminder comes ahead of the release of the winning numbers for the January-February lottery tomorrow. Among the unclaimed receipts was one for a NT$173 phone bill in Keelung, while others were for a NT$5,913 purchase at Costco in Taipei's Neihu District (內湖), a NT$49 purchase at a FamilyMart in New Taipei City's Tamsui District (淡水), and a NT$500 purchase at a tea shop in New Taipei City's
Taiwanese officials were shown the first of 66 F-16V fighter jets purchased by Taiwan from the United States, the Ministry of National Defense said yesterday, adding the aircraft has completed an initial flight test and is expected to be delivered later this year. A delegation led by Deputy Minister of National Defense Hsu Szu-chien (徐斯儉) visited Lockheed Martin’s F-16 C/D Block 70 (also known as F-16V) assembly line in South Carolina on March 16 to view the aircraft. The jet will undergo a final acceptance flight in the US before being delivered to Taiwan, the
The New Taipei Metro's Sanyin Line and the eastern extension of the Taipei Metro's Tamsui-Xinyi Line (Red Line) are scheduled to begin operations in June, the National Development Council said today. The Red Line, which terminates at Xiangshan Station, would be connected by the 1.4km extension to a new eastern terminal, Guangci/Fengtian Temple Station, while the Sanyin Line would link New Taipei City's Tucheng and Yingge stations via Sanxia District (三峽). The council gave the updates at a council meeting reviewing progress on public construction projects for this year. Taiwan's annual public infrastructure budget would remain at NT$800 billion (US$25.08 billion), with NT$97.3
TALENT SCOUTING: The university is investing substantial funds in its future to bring in the kind of researchers that would keep the college internationally competitive National Taiwan University (NTU) plans to invest NT$2 billion (US$62.6 million) to launch two programs aimed at attracting and retaining top research talent, university president Chen Wen-chang (陳文章) said yesterday. The funding would support the “Palm Grove Scholars Project,” which targets academics aged 40 to 55. Up to 20 scholars would be selected, each receiving as much as NT$10 million annually, Chen said. The initiative is designed to attract leading researchers to Taiwan and strengthen NTU’s global competitiveness by fostering a more research-friendly environment and expanding international collaboration, he said. NTU is also introducing a “Hong Hu” chair grant, which would provide Palm
RSS