The opposition parties yesterday again blocked the Cabinet’s version of the Act Governing the Allocation of Government Revenues and Expenditures (財政收支劃分法) and the NT$1.25 trillion (US$39.7 billion) special defense budget during a meeting of the Legislative Yuan’s Procedure Committee.
The opposition parties also passed the Chinese Nationalist Party’s (KMT) proposal to invite President William Lai (賴清德) to the legislature for a question-and-answer session on national security matters and defense costs.
Lai on Monday night issued a video saying that he was willing to do so, provided that the procedures involved in such an event are in line with Paragraph 3, Article 4 of the Additional Articles of the Constitution of the Republic of China (中華民國憲法增修條文) and related Constitutional Court rulings.
yesterday.Photo: Tien Yu-hua, Taipei Times
The legislature’s version of the act undermined the separation of powers, the nation’s finances and harmed people’s rights, he said.
The legislature’s consecutive abuse of legislative power is undermining Taiwan’s democracy, he said, adding that “at such a time, the president must uphold the nation’s constitutional system, protect the country and its people.”
Separately, the legislature’s Judiciary and Organic Laws and Statutes Committee convener, KMT Legislator Wen Hsiao-ling (翁曉玲), has put an item on today’s agenda.
The committee would hold a session asking officials, including the secretaries-general of the Presidential Office, the Executive Yuan, the Judicial Yuan and the Ministry of Justice, to deliver a report on whether the president and the premier would be legally responsible if they did not announce laws and countersign legislation.
Kenting National Park service technician Yang Jien-fon (楊政峰) won a silver award in World Grand Prix Photography Awards Spring Season for his photograph of two male rat snakes intertwined in combat. Yang’s colleagues at Kenting National Park said he is a master of nature photography who has been held back by his job in civil service. The awards accept entries in all four seasons across six categories: architectural and urban photography, black-and-white and fine art photography, commercial and fashion photography, documentary and people photography, nature and experimental photography, and mobile photography. Awards are ranked according to scores and divided into platinum, gold and
More than half of the bamboo vipers captured in Tainan in the past few years were found in the city’s Sinhua District (新化), while other districts had smaller catches or none at all. Every year, Tainan captures about 6,000 snakes which have made their way into people’s homes. Of the six major venomous snakes in Taiwan, the cobra, the many-banded krait, the brown-spotted pit viper and the bamboo viper are the most frequently captured. The high concentration of bamboo vipers captured in Sinhua District is puzzling. Tainan Agriculture Bureau Forestry and Nature Conservation Division head Chu Chien-ming (朱健明) earlier this week said that the
The first bluefin tuna of the season, brought to shore in Pingtung County and weighing 190kg, was yesterday auctioned for NT$10,600 (US$333.5) per kilogram, setting a record high for the local market. The auction was held at the fish market in Donggang Fishing Harbor, where the Siaoliouciou Island-registered fishing vessel Fu Yu Ching No. 2 delivered the “Pingtung First Tuna” it had caught for bidding. Bidding was intense, and the tuna was ultimately jointly purchased by a local restaurant and a local company for NT$10,600 per kilogram — NT$300 ,more than last year — for a total of NT$2.014 million. The 67-year-old skipper
BREACH OF CONTRACT: The bus operators would seek compensation and have demanded that the manufacturer replace the chips with ones that meet regulations Two bus operators found to be using buses with China-made chips are to demand that the original manufacturers replace the systems and provide compensation for breach of contract, the Veterans Affairs Council said yesterday. Democratic Progressive Party Legislator Michelle Lin (林楚茵) yesterday said that Da Nan Bus Co and Shin-Shin Bus Co Ltd have fielded a total of 82 buses that are using Chinese chips. The bus models were made by Tron-E, while the systems provider was CYE Electronics, Lin said. Lin alleged that the buses were using chips manufactured by Huawei subsidiary HiSilicon Co, which presents a national security risk if the
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