|
Cost of filming president’s speeches raises questions
FAVORED FIRM? Island Vision has consistently won the bid to record Ma’s year-end speech, with its asking price doubling every two years, a lawmaker alleged
By Tseng Wei-chen and Jake Chung / Staff reporter, with staff writer
The cost of filming President Ma Ying-jeou’s (馬英九) Lunar New Year’s Eve address has risen exponentially since 2010, with the Presidential Office seemingly favoring one company over the others, Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Lee Chun-yi (李俊俋) said.
Lee said that while the video recording of Ma’s Lunar New Year’s Eve speech over the past few years was open to public bidding, only one firm — Island Vision Co — consistently won the bid.
The video clips feature essentially the same footage and background music interlaced with news footages from the past year, Lee said.
However, the cost of filming it rose from NT$125,000 (US$4,115) in 2010 to NT$298,000 in 2012 and last year.
The price tag for this year is NT$570,000, Lee said.
“I do not see how the price for such a video can double biannually,” Lee said.
Lee added that Island Vision was also in charge of filming Ma’s weekly administrative reports over the past three years as well as the Centennial Medal Award ceremonies.
The company has made NT$2.9 million from Presidential Office contracts over the past four years, Lee said.
Lee said the company’s manager, Pan Chih-yuan (潘志遠), holds a degree from the Beijing Film Academy and was part of the production team for China’s “united front” (統戰) six-part documentary film National Veins (國脈).
“Does Taiwan have no other filming company that the Presidential Office can go to?” Lee asked.
Taking a jibe at the president’s filmed speeches, DPP Legislator Chiu Yi-ying (邱議瑩) said they were paid for and nothing more than a product from the winner of the public bid.
Since the speeches “do not come from his heart, it is no wonder the public cannot see any change in Ma’s policies,” she said.
The Presidential Office must explain why it favored one company over others, Chiu said, adding that such an incident suggested a major flaw in the Presidential Office’s system of managing outsourcing bids or hints at a possible political scandal.
Pan declined to comment when asked, saying the Presidential Office would deal with the issue.
Presidential Office deputy spokeswoman Ma Wei-kuo (馬瑋國) said that the office’s videos were handled in accordance with the Government Procurement Act (政府採購法), and that the additional cost this year came from the shooting of additional scenes of the Ma family gathering for dinner.
source: Taipei Times
|
