MILITANT lawmakers want the House of Representatives to use the remaining days of the 18th Congress to investigate the unpaid taxes of the estate of the late dictator Ferdinand Marcos amounting to an estimated P203 billion.
Bayan Muna party-list Reps. Eufemia Culiamat and Ferdinand Gaite and Carlos Zarate filed House Resolution No. 2553 urging the House committee on good government and public accountability to conduct the probe on Marcos’ unpaid estate tax, one of the campaign issues against presidential candidate former senator Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr., the late dictator’s son.
The lawmakers echoed the concern of retired Supreme Court Associate Justice Antonio Carpio that if Marcos Jr. wins the 2022 elections and becomes president, “there is a possibility that the debt of P203 billion may no longer be collected, to the damage and prejudice of the government.”
“It has been around 25 years since the BIR (Bureau of Internal Revenue) assessed the estate tax deficiencies on the Marcos estate in 1997 and more than two decades since the Supreme Court ruled with finality on the estate tax deficiency in 1999. Yet, no payment has been made by the heirs of Marcos. Worse, there is a possibility that this tax deficiency may not be collected at all in the event of another Marcos presidency,” the resolution said.
A similar resolution was also earlier filed in the Senate by Sen. Aquilino “Koko” Pimentel III, a staunch ally of presidential candidate Sen. Manny Pacquiao.
In the case of Ferdinand Marcos II versus Court of Appeals, et.al. (G.R. No. 120880, June 5, 1997), the Supreme Court had already factually and legally affirmed the findings of the BIR Special Tax Audit Team that investigated and examined the tax liabilities of the late dictator, including his family, and cronies. Such findings, released on July 26, 1991, found that the estate of the late dictator had a tax deficiency amounting to P23,293,607,638.00.
The militant lawmakers said there is a need to look into the government’s failure to collect the estate tax deficiencies of the Marcos estate, an amount that, if collected, “could help fund much-needed aid and social services for the people, especially as the country continues to recover from the effects of the pandemic.”
