Cebu City denies business permit to Chong Hua Hospital

[sharkey360]

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CHONG Hua Hospital (CHH) was denied a business permit by the Cebu City Government, its first such challenge in over a century of operations.

The City Treasurer’s Office (CTO) issued business permits to the hospital in previous years, acknowledging its exemption as a non-profit institution.

But it decided to withhold this year’s permit until the 660-bed hospital pays business
taxes dating back to 2000.

Mayor Michael Rama has reportedly asked City Administrator Jose Mari Poblete to facilitate the issuance of a business permit to Chong Hua. No City Hall officials were available for clarifications last night.

Lim Liu, Chong Hua president and chief executive officer (CEO), said CHH’s exempt status is affirmed by Section 193 of the Local Government Code.

Section 59 (g) of City Tax Ordinance 113, which imposed taxes on proprietary schools and hospitals, does not apply to CHH, being non-proprietary in nature, Liu said.

Repeated calls to City Treasurer Ofelia Oliva went unanswered as of press time last night.

CHH was not among the seven proprietary schools and hospitals that, in 2007,
questioned in court the amendments to the city’s tax ordinance.

The amended version set a business tax rate of three-fourths of one percent of gross receipts from the previous year.

Liu said the denial of the business permit placed in jeopardy the hospital’s Joint Commission International (JCI) accreditation.

“Our JCI accreditation is in jeopardy since we have not been issued a mayor’s business permit, which is one of the requirements to maintain our accredited status,” Liu said.

JCI is an independent non-profit organization that evaluates health care institutions worldwide.

The hospital, which bears the business name Asociacion Benevola de Cebu Inc., was accredited last year as a worldclass institution by the JCI.

CHH is one of only three hospitals accredited in the Philippines and the first in the Visayas and Mindanao to receive the Golden Seal of Approval.

The City Council had even commended the management and staff of CHH for receiving the seal.

Liu sent a letter asking Mayor Rama that CHH be allowed to pay the same business tax assessment as last year.

Whatever surplus earnings CHH obtained from its operations, none of it benefited only a single individual, he said.

He said the hospital’s earnings are used for programs that benefit the Cebuano community.

These include upgrading its medical facilities, free annual medical and surgical services to the indigents, charity hospitalization services and fire protection services through the Filipino-Chinese Volunteer Fire Brigade, among others.

City Hall denies business permit to Chong Hua Hospital | Sun.Star Network Online

[teddyboy]

the GOVERNMENT is soooo GOOD in collecting TAXES!
yet there is no significant improvement in this City and this Country.

haaayy.. ang trapik!

[cebulifer]

Lim Liu, Chong Hua president and chief executive officer (CEO), said CHH’s exempt status is affirmed by Section 193 of the Local Government Code.

Section 59 (g) of City Tax Ordinance 113, which imposed taxes on proprietary schools and hospitals, does not apply to CHH, being non-proprietary in nature, Liu said.

From how I read that section 59. two types of business establishments/ entities will be taxed. CHH is a hospital not a school. So it should be taxed.

Any tax lawyers or lawyers in istorya care to explain?

[peewee_toot]

agay! daghan mawala-an og work ani. esp ang mga underpaid nurses.

[RMK711]

From how I read that section 59. two types of business establishments/ entities will be taxed. CHH is a hospital not a school. So it should be taxed.

Any tax lawyers or lawyers in istorya care to explain?

Nah, the term proprietary applies to both schools and hospitals. Clearly this is the government once again failing to apply proper statutory construction to the law. Just like when customs taxed books under the Arroyo administration because they thought the law only exempted educational books.

If Chong Hua closed down will the public hospitals be able to provide the same service to the patients? Man, our government sucks balls... let's just kill them all.

[jrconde]

noobs ko aning tax exemption ang gi ask sa CHH da. sa akong pag sabot ra jud, basta ang usa ka institution kai income generating jud, taxan jud na cya. i doubt if ang school ang ang hospital kai dili income generating. mao na diha ang dakong pangutana.

[SioDenz]

noobs ko aning tax exemption ang gi ask sa CHH da. sa akong pag sabot ra jud, basta ang usa ka institution kai income generating jud, taxan jud na cya. i doubt if ang school ang ang hospital kai dili income generating. mao na diha ang dakong pangutana.

Mao jud, simple raman cguro kaayu nang sabton, bisag elementary kasabot man cguro unsay Non-profit organization.

Kanang mu ingun ang CHH nga Non-profit na sila, pagkadakung bakak ana! kamahal ana ilang hospital nya non-profit. DILI man gani ka dawatun if WALA kay i Deposit bisag kamatyunun naka?

Mura man nuon tag gihimung amaw ana ilang rason...

[diatabz]

Kanang mu ingun ang CHH nga Non-profit na sila, pagkadakung bakak ana! kamahal ana ilang hospital nya non-profit. DILI man gani ka dawatun if WALA kay i Deposit bisag kamatyunun naka?

Tell me, when was the last time you were inside CHH? One way you can tell that the hospital is a non-profit organization is by looking at its facilities and its rate of improvement. In the last 5 years alone, Chong Hua has made massive efforts to improve its quality of healthcare, from the installation of a pneumatic tube system, the acquisition of new medical machinery, to the construction of a car park (the first of its kind in Cebu btw).

The very fact that CHH received JCI accreditation means that the hospital HAD to spend on changing and improving its healthcare system. Reklamo ka sa kamahal? Find me any hospital in the Visayas and Mindanao that can come close to CHH's quality of healthcare, then you'll see why justified ra ilang presyo.

Oh, and btw, kanang mga insik na bombero, usa ang Chong Hua sa nagfund ana nila. So any money the hospital makes doesn't just stay within its confines.

[peewee_toot]

^^ngano gamay ra mn ayu ilang i-sweldo sa mga nurses?

[Tarzan]

^^ngano gamay ra mn ayu ilang i-sweldo sa mga nurses?

`

dili sa paglaban sa Chun Hua, tinood mahal kaayo sila unya gamay ang sweldo sa ilang mga nurses. Pero kaning gamay ug seldo, murag tanan man siguro nga hospitals. di ba? About aning non-profit ug dapat taxed exempt ang chung hua, I really don't have any idea. I will leave that sa mga tawo nga naay alamag ani.