THE camp of Manila Mayor and Aksyon Demokratiko standard bearer Isko Moreno yesterday slammed former senator and presidential aspirant Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr., calling him a “coward” for not attending debates and questioning his track record and accomplishments, and the failure of his family to pay the government P200 billion in estate taxes.
Moreno’s chief campaign strategist, Lito Banayo, Marcos is skipping presidential debates because he has many things to hide.
“In short, Bongbong Marcos is a coward,” Banayo said in a press briefing.
Banayo also disclosed that he declined the proposal of Marcos’ campaign manager, former MMDA chairman Benhur Abalos Jr., for presidential candidates to meet to talk about the rules of the Comelec-sponsored debate on March 19.
In his answer to Abalos, Banayo said that Comelec and the media should be allowed to set the ground rules.
In the same press conference, Aksyon Demokratiko chairperson Ernest Ramel Jr. also slammed Marcos, saying his repeated calls for unity is hollow when he cannot even answer the issues hurled against him such as his track record and accomplishments, as well as his family’s non-payment up to now of estate taxes.
“If he is really sincere in his call for unity, then he should start by paying estate taxes which now amounted to P200 billion,” Ramel said.
Ramel and Banayo also called on the Bureau of Internal Revenue to do its job by issuing demand letters to Marcos, as the administrator of the family’s estate, to pay the unsettled obligation.
Retired Supreme Court Associate Justice Antonio Carpio had earlier warned that if Marcos won the presidential race, the P328 billion worth of “ill-gotten” wealth and unpaid estate taxes from the Marcos family may no longer be recovered by the government.
Marcos, he said, may even abolish the Presidential Commission on Good Government, which is primarily tasked to recover the ill-gotten wealth accumulated by former president Ferdinand Marcos Sr., his family, relatives, and cronies.
The PCGG is still on the hunt for more than P125 billion worth of Marcos assets, which were allegedly part of the family’s ill-gotten wealth.
Ramel also asked Marcos Jr. to come clean on the controversy generated by his claim that he graduated from Oxford University. He said even Oxford has denied Marcos’ claim that he completed a degree in the university and was only awarded a Special Diploma on Social Studies in 1978.
Banayo twitted Church leaders for allowing the promotional materials of Vice President and presidential aspirant Leni Robredo to be displayed in churches.
Banayo said that while Moreno also visited churches and talked to religious leaders, he always made it a point to keep it private and his campaign or promotional materials are displayed inside churches.
