|
DPP alleges Chunghwa
Post favoritism for KMT
HE SAID, SHE SAID: A DPP lawmaker said she heard
from DPP legislative candidates that the nationˇs postal service was giving
priority to direct mail sent by KMT candidates
By Shelley Shan / Staff Reporter
Chunghwa Post chairman Oliver Yu
reports on the companyˇs business plan for next year at the legislature
yesterday.
Photo: Lin Cheng-kung, Taipei Times
Democratic Progressive Party (DPP)
lawmakers are alleging that Chunghwa Post has been giving priority treatment to
direct mail sent by Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) candidates in the January
elections.
Chunghwa Post was scheduled yesterday to brief the legislatureˇs Transportation
Committee on its budget for the next fiscal year, particularly a proposal to
expand the scope of its life insurance service.
Several legislators also criticized the quality of service provided by Chunghwa
Post.
DPP Legislator Yeh Yi-jin (腑﹜瑉) said she had heard from other DPP candidates
that Chunghwa Post gave priority to direct mail sent by KMT candidates, in some
cases causing supporters to miss DPP campaign events.
In response, Chunghwa Post chairman Oliver Yu (村ㄓ) denied the company handled
mail differently based on political affiliation, and said he had not heard of
any instance of a candidateˇs direct mail being deliberately delayed.
¨For the postal service, customers are our bread and butter. All the mail is
handled equally, regardless of politics,〃 Yu said, adding that he would
nevertheless look into the matter.
Tseng Chin-hsiung (纯繟动), director of Chunghwa Postˇs mail and business
operations department, said the postal service follows the principle of ¨first
come, first served.〃
He said postal workers worked extra hours if the mail received exceeded normal
loads.
Meanwhile, lawmakers questioned Chunghwa Postˇs abilityˇs to cope with the
expansion of its life insurance service.
DPP Legislator Kuo Wen-cheng (尝Θ) said that despite having thousands of
branches nationwide, Chunghwa Post has still had little success with the life
insurance services it currently offered.
According to Chunghwa Postˇs budget plan, its life insurance service generated
NT$122.1 billion (NT$4 billion) in September, down 1.85 percent from the same
time last year. However, the company still enjoyed a profit of NT$800 million
and is currently ranked No. 7 in the nationˇs life insurance sector.
Yu said since the amendment of the Simple Life Insurance Act (虏关玂繧猭), Chunghwa
Post could now offer personal health insurance, pension insurance and injury
insurance, though the amendment must first be approved by the Financial
Supervisory Commission, Yu said.
KMT Legislators Luo Shu-lei (霉睶立) and Yang Li-huan (法腞吏) brought up a series of
negative cases this year involving company employees and asked Yu what he
planned to do about them.
As an example, they pointed out that employees at the post office in the
National Palace Museum had been found to have illegally profited from currency
exchanges involving the Chinese yuan in September.
|
