Tom warns schools, hospitals no tax payments, no basic services

CEBU, Philippines – For their refusal to pay business taxes to the City of Cebu, Mayor Tomas Osmeña is looking at taking drastic measures by curtailing services to schools and hospitals.

Osmeña reiterated yesterday his intent to put pressure on big schools and hospitals to pay taxes to the city government despite their claim of exemption since they operate as non-profit institutions.

The mayor said that he is thinking of stopping the delivery of basic services to these institutions.

“We can stop collecting their garbage, let’s see if they won’t scream, we pull out our own traffic enforcers, why will we pay our personnel for them; the police, if there is fire let them put out their own fire,” Osmeña said.

He said it is not fair to continue delivering such services to these institutions as City Hall has been strict in collecting taxes from business establishments and some have even been closed because of violations including the delay in renewal of permits.

According to the records of the City Treasurer’s Office (CTO) the eight institutions owe the City at least P255 million in taxes from 2000 to 2004 alone excluding penalties.

“What non profit? Patients whether they are healed or not are paying thousands to the hospitals, the students are mostly not from the city, and they don’t pay taxes,” Osmeña said.

A case has already been filed against City Hall by seven proprietary schools and hospitals that have not been paying business and real property taxes.

According to CTO the taxes due and the penalties have increased in the last four years.

However the amount due from 2005 to the present could not be assessed because the schools and hospitals have stopped submitting their financial statements.

For the interest and penalties alone, the city will collect 24 percent of the principal amount per year.

Osmeña recently axed City Treasurer Renee Empaces for alleged inefficiency in collecting taxes.

The mayor has also recently expressed discontent on the performance of Rodolfo Golez for his failure to implement closure orders.

“We need a team of an aggressive treasurer and an aggressive legal officer, not one who is friendly to the other side,” Osmeña said.

Golez received his first warning when the Mayor learned of his failure to close 168 Hypermart along V. Rama Ave. last week.

The hospitals and schools which filed a case against the city are Cebu Doctors’ University (CDU), Cebu Institute of Technology (CIT), Southwestern University (SWU), Sacred Heart Hospital, Cebu Doctors’ Hospital (CDH), Cebu North General Hospital and Velez General Hospital.

Their administrators were not available for comment yesterday. – With AJ de la Torre/NLQ (THE FREEMAN)