EDITORIAL - Non-stock, non-profit? Manghatag man gani og auto!

Mayor Tomas Osmeña has a point. No school or hospital operates out of the goodness of its heart. It is unthinkable for a school or hospital to expand and modernize just for the heck of it. Always, underneath the breastbeating, there is the sound of cash registers ringing.

Indeed, the threat to pass on to students the burden of taxes proves the point. If one is not into this business as a business, then why the unwillingness to absorb the taxes when everything is supposedly a sacrifice. Taxes are just one more pain to bear by the martyrs.

But the point Osmeña made is only up to this point. If schools and hospitals refuse to pay taxes, then his only real option is to go to court and allow the law to have the final say on the issue.

He cannot, as he has threatened, stop the delivery of basic services to schools and hospitals, even if they refuse to pay taxes, because by doing so he will be punishing a lot more who have really nothing to do with the refusal.

For instance, if Osmeña causes the collection of garbage from schools and hospitals to be stopped, the ones who will suffer most will be the students and patients and not the school and hospital owners, who will probably just be thumbing their noses at him.

Our greatest worrry, however, is that Osmeña cannot or is unwilling to see this point and will actually carry out his threat, as he has done so many times over a wide variety of other issues.

If Osmeña can court the wrath of God by barricading the entrance to the Basilica del Santo Niño just so he can deprive of customers those sidewalk vendors who had the gall to sue him in court and actually win, for sure eight schools and hospitals should mean less to him.

Ironically, withdrawing basic services is not the issue here. The issue is the business tax that Osmeña said these schools and hospitals are refusing to pay. And why indeed are they not paying when only a fool will believe these businesses are not really businesses.

To say they are non-stock, non-profit institutions is pure gobbledy-gook. Maybe on paper they are. But who are they kidding? Come on. Manghatag man gani og auto. Without meaning any disrespect, “dugay nang namatay si Rizal.” You put up something, you expect a return.