INQUIRER Global Nation

THE Cebu City government is open for talks and is waiting for the seven schools and hospitals to come up with their counterproposal to settle their arguments on the amended tax ordinance.

Lawyer Cornelio Mercado, the lead legal officer of the seven institutions, said they are trying to draw up a compromise agreement with the city.

Acting City Attorney Joseph Bernaldez said that the city lawyer handling the case told him that the city might be able to come up with a settlement and perhaps bring down the city's taxes imposed on them.

But Cebu City Councilor Jose Daluz III, chairman of the committee on budget and finance, said that the agreement should not compromise the existing law.

There might be a need to amend the tax ordinance depending on the proposal of the schools and hospitals, he said.

“Maybe we can settle this by passing an ordinance. There will be one more mediation and we still want to know their specific proposal,” Daluz told.

But Daluz said the institutions will have to “abandon” their stand and that they have to recognize the taxing power of the city to all business establishments within their territorial jurisdiction.

In the amended tax ordinance, the city collects .75 percent of the gross sales of proprietary schools and hospitals per annum.

Daluz said that before any proposal from the schools and hospitals the institutions must agree first that the city has the taxing power and that these institutions must be taxed on.

But Mercado said that the city's power to collect taxes is a non-issue and what they are questioning is the legality of the ordinance.