G.R. No. 144104 LUNG CENTER OF THE PHIL v. ORTIGAS 717 SCRA 601

LUNG CENTER OF THE PHIL v. ORTIGAS
G.R. No. 144104

June 29, 2004

717 SCRA 601

FACTS: The petitioner Lung Center of the Philippines is the registered owner of a parcel of land located at Quezon City and erected in the middle is a hospital known as the Lung Center of the Philippines.

The petitioner accepts paying and non-paying patients. It also renders medical services to out-patients, both paying and non-paying, as well as private leases.

Both the land and the hospital building of the petitioner were assessed for real property taxes in the amount of P4,554,860 by the City Assessor of Quezon City.

The petitioner filed a Claim for Exemption5 from real property taxes with the City Assessor, stating that it is a charitable institution within the context of Section 28(3), Article VI of the 1987 Constitution.

ISSUES: (1) Whether the petitioner is a charitable institution within the context of Presidential Decree No. 1823 and the 1973 and 1987 Constitutions and Section 234(b) of Republic Act No. 7160; and (2) whether the real properties of the petitioner are exempt from real property taxes.

RULING: (1) Yes. The Court held that the petitioner is a charitable institution within the context of the 1973 and 1987 Constitutions.

The test whether an enterprise is charitable or not is whether it exists to carry out a purpose reorganized in law as charitable or whether it is maintained for gain, profit, or private advantage. Hence, the Lung Center was organized for the welfare and benefit of the Filipino people.

As a general principle, a charitable institution does not lose its character as such and its exemption from taxes simply because it derives income from paying patients, so long as the money received is devoted to charitable objects and no money inures to the private benefit of the persons managing or operating the institution. As well as the reason of donation in the form of subsidies granted by the government.

(2) No. Those portions of its real property that are leased to private entities are not exempt from real property taxes as these are not actually, directly and exclusively used for charitable purposes.

The petitioner failed to prove that the entirety of its real property is actually, directly and exclusively used for charitable purposes. While portions of the hospital are used for the treatment of patients and the dispensation of medical services to them, whether paying or non-paying, other portions thereof are being leased to private individuals for their clinics and a canteen.

Hence, the portions of the land leased to private entities as well as those parts of the hospital leased to private individuals are not exempt from such taxes. On the other hand, the portions of the land occupied by the hospital and portions of the hospital used for its patients, whether paying or non-paying, are exempt from real property taxes.