PRESIDENTIAL candidate Sen. Panfilo “Ping” Lacson yesterday pressed the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) to make public the demand letter it allegedly sent to the heirs of the late president Ferdinand Marcos Sr. in the spirit of the Freedom of Information Act (FOI).
Lacson, in a press conference in San Jose, Occidental Mindoro, called as unacceptable the BIR’s denial of the separate requests made by two media entities for a copy of the supposed December 2, 2021 letter it sent to the Marcos heirs demanding settlement of their overdue P203 billion estate tax.
Lacson said the issue on the unpaid multi-billion-peso estate tax is a matter of “national interest” because it involves a huge amount of money “that could change the lives of many Filipinos.”
“Para saan pa na meron tayong FOI kung iwi-withhold ‘yung information na public record? Kasi public interest ‘yan eh (What is the essence of having an FOI if it [BIR] will withhold information of a public record? That [estate tax issue] is of public interest),” he said.
Lacson made the remark after learning that the BIR has turned down the request of at least two media entities that they be given a copy of the demand letter that the agency reportedly sent to the Marcoses in relation to the unpaid estate tax, which has ballooned from P23 billion to P203 billion due to interests and other charges.
The BIR denied the FOI requests, saying that the requested document is considered a “Sensitive Personal Information as defined under RA No. 10173 (Data Privacy Act of 2012) considering that it pertains to the details of the estate tax liabilities of the late president Ferdinand Marcos.”
“Moreover, Section 270 of the National Internal Revenue Code of 1957, as amended, identifies the ‘unlawful divulgence’ rule wherein personnel of the Bureau of Internal Revenue cannot divulge information, obtained from taxpayers’ business, income of estate as well as the secrets, operations, style or work or apparatus of any manufacturer or producer, or confidential information regarding the business of the taxpayer,” the BIR also said.
The two media entities made the FOI request after Sen. Imee Marcos, daughter of former president, said that their family has yet to receive any communication from the BIR which demands payment for the estate tax, which the Supreme Court ordered way back in 1997.
The BIR said the demand letter was sent to the Marcos family on December 2 last year.
The unsettled P203 billion estate tax is one of the issues being thrown at former senator Ferdinand Marcos Jr., who is running for president in the May elections.