Premier Cho Jung-tai (卓榮泰) yesterday said he would not countersign a bill to fund the relocation of a military dependents’ community in Taipei, saying it would benefit certain firms and people at public expense and against constitutional principles.
Amendments to the Act for Rebuilding Old Quarters for Military Dependents (國軍老舊眷村改建條例) were passed on Jan. 17 by the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and the Taiwan People’s Party.
The amended act scrapped a provision that restricted eligibility for relocation or reconstruction to veterans’ villages built before the end of 1980, revising the cutoff to those established before the act was promulgated on Feb. 5, 1996.
Photo: Tu Chien-jung, Taipei Times
The legislation provides a legal basis for 50 households from Tsu Ren Eighth Village (慈仁八村) — a complex in Taipei’s Daan District (大安) commissioned in 1989 — to relocate to a dormitory managed by the Ministry of National Defense in Wenshan District’s (文山) Wanlung (萬隆).
Cho told reporters he would exercise the right granted to the premier under the Constitution not to countersign, “as the bill was intended for only a particular case.”
As such, it is an unfair use of state funds to redevelop several buildings to benefit only a small group of people, he said.
Laws must be generally applicable, Cho said, citing the principle of equality in Article 7 of the Constitution and the prohibition against case-specific legislation established in Judicial Yuan Interpretation No. 793.
It would also create a large financial burden on the special government fund designated for all military dependents’ villages across Taiwan, Cho said.
This is the second time Cho has refused to countersign a law passed by the legislature, following his refusal to sign opposition-backed amendments to the local revenue-sharing law in December last year.
The Economic Democratic Union said that in the bill’s expanded definition, the newly eligible villages are in the Taipei constituency of KMT Legislator Lo Chih-chiang (羅智強), whose constituents would be eligible to use state funds of about NT$200 billion (US$6.32 billion) to redevelop the complex into residential towers.
Under the new definition, the Cheng Kung Public Housing (成功國宅) and the Daan Public Housing (大安國宅) complexes would also be eligible for reconstruction, union convener Lai Chung-chiang (賴中強) said.
Lo blasted the Executive Yuan for unilaterally refusing to countersign legislation passed by the legislature, calling it an illegal breach of the Constitution and accusing the administration of being a “power-hungry monster.”
Lo justified his proposal by citing the high cost of maintaining the idle Wanlung complex and the deterioration of Tsu Ren Eighth Village — a situation exacerbated by the residents’ lack of property rights, which means they are legally barred from renovating their homes, according to his previous statements.
Lo also said that relocating the 50 households to the Wanlung complex would allow the government to revitalize the original site, thereby generating significant revenue for the national treasury.
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