The Quezon City government has given the Philippine Heart Center (PHC) more time to recover from its tax payment problem.
City Administrator Victor Endriga disclosed that the PHC had been given a one-year redemption period to buy back its property which was sold to the QC government during an auction last July 7.
Endriga said that the QC government had placed into public sale PHC due to its repeated failure to pay the P46,098,246.62 real property tax due despite several warrants of levies sent to the hospital.
However, the city administrator stressed that the QC government is not after taking over the hospital. What the QC Hall is really after is the payment of the real property tax that could be utilized by Mayor Herbert M. Bautista’s administration in worthwhile projects, especially better medical and health services to the city residents, Endriga said.
According to Endriga, the city government, through Mayor Bautista, had already extended a helping hand to the PHC to settle the payment problem by entering into Memorandum of Agreement (MOA) with the PHC in providing medical care services to city residents in lieu of payment of the monetary value of their tax obligations.
Earlier, he said that the PHC had entered into a MOA thru its Officer-In-Charge Dr. Jose Yulde for a P10 million worth of medical care services for QC residents, however, it was not honored by the hospital’s present Executive Director Dr. Manuel Chua Chiaco Jr.
“The QC government is amenable to a settlement of the PHC’s tax obligation by providing their services to the city’s poorest of the poor. We already negotiated for this move, however it was not given attention by the present officials of the hospital. We even asked for a counter proposal on how to resolve the problem if they would not be able to accommodate the P10 million MOA,” the city administrator said.
Endriga cited the case of National Kidney and Transplant Institute (NKTI) which entered into P5 million worth of medical care services annually to settle their real property tax issue.
“The city government is willing to renegotiate for the MOA with the PHC in order to finally address the issue on tax delinquency of the hospital. What we are waiting for is to see the PHC officials submit their proposal on the matter,” he said.
He warned that once the issue was not settled on time and the one-year period lapsed, then the city government will be obliged to take over the hospital to offer medical and health services to city residents. Maureen Quiñones, PAISO
