Tuguegarao nursing school fights mayor’s closure order

TUGUEGARAO CITY, Philippines – A nursing school co-owned by an engineer who was reported to have engaged city mayor Delfin Ting in a fisticuffs, has been ordered closed by the city government for operating without the necessary Mayor’s Permit. According to Ting, the Medical College of Northern Philippines (MCNP), which has been in business since 1994, has also been found out to be lacking of a building permit, a basic requirement for it to legally operate. Ting’s charges have been disputed by the school’s authorities saying that the institution is answerable only to the Commission on Higher Education (CHED) and not to the local government. MCNP lawyer Ephraim Lasam said, “it is only CHED that can order the closure, besides under the law, we are exempted from taxes and declaring of dividends since we are a non-stock, non-profit institution." Lawyer Edwin Pascua of the city government, however, refuted Lasam’s statement saying “Security and Exchange Commission (SEC) records show that while their claim is true that they are a non-stock institution, there’s nothing there that says they will not profit from the school’s income." MCNP owner Dr. Raymund Guzman, who was Ting’s nemesis during the last local elections, believes that the order to close the school started after his younger brother Robert Guzman reportedly had a spat with Ting when they bumped into each other at the domestic airport in Manila. Students of MCNP denounced Ting’s order saying that it’s obviously filled with political vendetta. “We are dismayed by the Mayor Ting’s unfair and abusive decision; some of us are even set to graduate already, nadadamay kami sa personal niyang galit," one student said. Ting, however, allayed the fears of the students. “I’m just worried that these students will just fall victim to a fake school, “he said. Some 6,000 students of MCNP will be affected once the closure order by the city government against the nursing school will be carried out. Police tried to served the closure on Thursday but failed to carry out the order. - GMANews.TV