Alta Vista Golf vs. City of Cebu

 G.R. No. 180235

ALTA VISTA GOLF AND COUNTRY CLUB, Petitioner,

vs.

THE CITY OF CEBU, HON. MAYOR TOMAS R. OSMEÑA, in his capacity as Mayor of Cebu, and TERESITA C. CAMARILLO, in her capacity as the City Treasurer, Respondents.

FACTS:

Sangguniang Panlungsod of Cebu City enacted City Tax: Ordinance, otherwise known as the "Revised Omnibus Tax: Ordinance of the City of Cebu". Section 42 of the said tax ordinance provides that there shall be paid to the Office of the City Treasurer by the proprietors, lessees or operators of theaters, cinemas, concert halls, circuses and other similar places of entertainment, an amusement tax at the rate of thirty percent (30%), golf courses and polo grounds at the rate of twenty percent (20% ), of their gross receipts on entrance, playing green, and/or admission fees; xxx

Respondent Cebu City repeatedly attempted to collect from petitioner its deficiency business taxes, fees, and charges for 1998, a substantial portion of which consisted of the amusement tax on the golf course. Petitioner steadfastly refused to pay the amusement tax arguing that the imposition of said tax by Section 42 of the Revised Omnibus Tax Ordinance, as amended, was irregular, improper, and illegal. Petitioner reasoned that under the Local Government Code, amusement tax can only be imposed on operators of theaters, cinemas, concert halls, or places where one seeks to entertain himself by seeing or viewing a show or performance.

ISSUE:

Whether the Section 42 of such Ordinance imposing amusement tax to golf course was proper.

RULING:

NO. A golf course cannot be considered a place of amusement.

"Amusement places," as defined in Section 131(c) of the Local Government Code, "include theaters, cinemas, concert halls, circuses and other places of amusement where one seeks admission to entertain oneself by seeing or viewing the show or performance."

Under the principle of ejusdem generis, "where a general word or phrase follows an enumeration of particular and specific words of the same class or where the latter follow the former, the general word or phrase is to be construed to include, or to be restricted to persons, things or cases akin to, resembling, or of the same kind or class as those specifically mentioned."

The purpose of the rule on ejusdem generis is to give effect to both the particular and general words, by treating the particular words as indicating the class and the general words as including all that is embraced in said class, although not specifically named by the particular words. This is justified on the ground that if the lawmaking body intended the general terms to be used in their unrestricted sense, it would have not made an enumeration of particular subjects but would have used only general terms.

Thus the SC ruled that a golf course cannot be considered a place of amusement. As petitioner asserted, people do not enter a golf course to see or view a show or performance. Petitioner also, as proprietor or operator of the golf course, does not actively display, stage, or present a show or performance. People go to a golf course to engage themselves in a physical sport activity, i.e., to play golf; the same reason why people go to a gym or court to play badminton or tennis or to a shooting range for target practice, yet there is no showing herein that such gym, court, or shooting range is similarly considered an amusement place subject to amusement tax. There is no basis for singling out golf courses for amusement tax purposes from other places where people go to play sports. This is in contravention of one of the fundamental principles of local taxation: that the "[t]axation shall be uniform in each local government unit."38 Uniformity of taxation, like the kindred concept of equal protection, requires that all subjects or objects of taxation, similarly situated, are to be treated alike both in privileges and liabilities.