THIS is regarding the “On the Go” column that discussed the clamping of two ambulances in the vicinity of the Cebu Doctor’s University Hospital. Really, no exceptions?
The real issue is not whether clamping the wheels of an ambulance is a personal vendetta on the part of the mayor against the hospital but whether traffic laws of the city are being broken.
And yes, exceptions can and should be made. Simply amend whatever law(s) that apply to provide for logical exceptions.
So what, one may ask, is the real issue? The real issue is whether or not commercial institutions should be allowed to hide behind some obscure law to circumvent laws on taxation.
Apart from a few public hospitals in the country, all other medical facilities are commercial institutions, whose primary goal is to turn a profit.
After all, how else can an owner afford to acquire one of the most expensive sports cars in the world in a country where the inability of a patient to pay for a test could mean the difference between life and death?
A degree in Corporate Law or Business Management is not necessary to realize that the so called non-stock and non-profit corporations, as well as the legally incorporated so called foundations that operate business institutions, are most definitely not charitable organizations.
Finally, as for the mayor becoming personal about his politics, that should hardly come as a surprise. Politics in the Philippines is totally personal. Very few, if any, politician cares about his/her barangay, community, city, town, province or country.
Politics in the country has been correctly defined as one of the best Philippines businesses. The main and apparently only concern of the politician is how to get get reelected and how to continue to profit from the position.
By the way, aren’t newspaper columnists supposed to be unbiased?--Bert Pursoo