Private school owners to BSL: “We can talk!”
LAWYER Gonzalo Duque, president of Lyceum-Northwestern University, said he and the other college and university presidents are ready to hold a dialogue with Mayor Benjamin Lim at the latter’s instance.
Duque said they will meet with the mayor “if he will call for us”.
Last week, Duque lambasted Lim in reaction to the mayor’s statement in a public forum that insinuated that private school owners are “tax cheats”.
“I am sorry that we had to react the way we did,” Duque said, pointing out that he considers the mayor a family friend.
At the same time, Duque said he and the other school owners are standing firm on their position that under the law, private schools are exempt from paying local business taxes.
Duque, along with Dr. Mac Arthur Samson, president of UL, and Dr. Voltaire Arzadon, president of Colegio de Dagupan, sent letters on February 18 protesting the imposition of business taxes by the city on their institutions, since there is a ruling of the Department of Finance exempting educational institutions.
The letter was addressed to Lim, Vice Mayor Belen Fernandez and the Sangguniang Panlungsod (SP).
SP CLARIFICATION
Duque also welcomed the statement of Councilor Luis Samson Jr. that private schools are exempt from business taxes based on City Ordinance No. 1855 or the Revenue Code of Dagupan. (See related story on page 1)
Duque said the private schools would now like to get a clarification from the SP on the matter.
“If ever the schools paid under the wrong notion, it does not mean that the practice of paying makes the same legal,” he added referring to the regular payments of taxes to the city government by all private schools in the city in the past.
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