G.R. No. L-9637
April 30, 1957
Facts
Plaintiff is a foreign, non-stock, non-profit, religious, missionary corporation duly registered and doing business in the Philippines. Their ministry involved selling Bibles for a price.
The City of Manila ordered them to pay license fees and to register their business by virtue of Ordinance No. 2529 and 3000, respectively.
Issue
Whether said ordinances are inapplicable, invalid or unconstitutional if applied to the alleged business of distribution and sale of bibles to the people of the Philippines by a religious corporation?
Held
The constitutional guaranty of the free exercise and enjoyment of religious profession and worship carries with it the right to disseminate religious information. Any restraint of such right can only be justified like other restraints of freedom of expression on the grounds that there is a clear and present danger of any substantive evil which the State has the right to prevent”.
In the case at bar, the license fee herein involved is imposed upon appellant for its distribution and sale of bibles and other religious literature. In Murdock v. Pennsylvania, “those who can tax the exercise of this religious practice can make its exercise so costly as to deprive it of the resources necessary for its maintenance and close all its doors to all ‘those who do not have a full purse. Spreading religious beliefs in this ancient and honorable manner would thus be denied the needy. The power to impose a license tax on the exercise of these freedoms is indeed as potent as the power of censorship which this Court has repeatedly struck down. Nor could dissemination of religious information be conditioned upon the approval of an official or manager even if the town were owned by a corporation.”
Hence, the provisions of City of Manila Ordinance No. 2529, as amended, cannot be applied to appellant, for in doing so it would impair its free exercise and enjoyment of its religious profession and worship as well as its rights of dissemination of religious beliefs.
On the other hand, Ordinance No. 3000, as amended, which requires the obtention of the Mayor’s permit before any person can engage in any of the businesses, trades or occupations enumerated therein, does not imposes any charge upon the enjoyment of a right granted by the Constitution, nor tax the exercise of religious practices.
In other words, the requirement on license fees to the act of selling Bibles encroaches on the free exercise of religion while the requirement to obtain permit does not.