CASE17THc – Hospital de San Juan de Dios vs.

Pasay City

EN BANC

[G.R. No. L-19371. February 28, 1966.]

HOSPITAL DE SAN JUAN DE DIOS, INC., plaintiff-appellant, vs. PASAY CITY, PABLO CUNETA,
R. N. ASCAÑO and G. C. FUENTES , defendants- appellees.

Teodoro Padilla for the plaintiff and appellant.

R. N. Ascaño & G. C. Fuentes for the defendants and appellees.

SYLLABUS

1. CHARITABLE INSTITUTIONS; BURDEN OF PROOF TO SHOW THAT CHARITABLE

INSTITUTION IS OPERATING OTHERWISE. — It not being disputed that appellant was organized as
a charitable institution, the presumption is that it is operating as such, the burden of proof being on
appellees to show that it is operating otherwise. The record does not show that they have satisfactorily
discharged this burden.

2. ID.; ID.; EXEMPTION FROM PAYMENT OF FEES AND TAXES; CASE AT BAR. — The Articles
of Incorporation of the Hospital de San Juan de Dios, Inc. show that it has no capital stock and that no
part of its net income, if any, could inure to the bene􏰆t of any private individual. There is also the ruling
of the Workmen's Compensation Commission and the Undersecretary of Labor that said hospital is a
charitable institution, exempt from the scope of the Workmen's Compensation Act. The hospital's cashier
also issued a statement to the effect that the hospital maintains two free wards of sixty beds each.
Appellees admit that in addition to the said free wards the hospital also maintains six free beds in the
Pediatric Section. There is, therefore, sufficient evidence that the hospital doles out charity, and, hence,
should be exempted from the payment of the inspection fees provided in Section 5, Ordinance No. 7,
series of 1945; as amended by Ordinance No. 22, series of 1947, and further amended by Ordinance No.
54, series of 1955, of the City of Pasay.

3. ID.; ID.; ID.; MAKING OF PROFIT, EFFECT ON TAX EXEMPTION. — The making of pro􏰆t does
not destroy the tax exemption of a charitable, benevolent or educational institution. (Jesus Sacred Heart
College vs. Collector, L-6807, May 20, 1954)

4. ID.; ID.; ID.; CHARGING FEES FOR PAYING BEDS. — The fact that a hospital charges fees for
paying beds does not make it lose its character as a charitable institution if the same were used to partly
finance the expenses of the free wards maintained by the hospital. (U.S.T. Hospital Employees
Association vs. Sto. Tomas University Hospital, L-6988, May 24, 1952; Collector of Internal Revenue vs.
St. Paul's Hospital in Iloilo, L-12127, May 25, 1959; San Juan de Dios Hospital vs. Metropolitan Water
District, 54 Phil. 174.)

5. ID.; ID.; ID.; CHARGING MEDICAL AND HOSPITAL FEES. — The mere charging of medical and
hospital fees from those who can afford to pay does not make the institution one established for pro􏰆t or
gain (Manila Sanitarium and Hospital vs. Gabuco, 117 Phil. 12, January 31, 1963.)

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