BIR says efforts to collect Marcos estate tax continue
BY ANGELA LORRAINE CELIS and JOCELYN MONTEMAYOR
THE family of the late President Ferdinand Marcos has not paid their estate tax despite efforts of the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) to collect and demand payment from them, Finance Secretary Carlos Dominguez said yesterday.
He issued the statement after President Duterte asked the BIR why it has not collected estate taxes, without naming names.
Duterte’s statement came amid controversy over the Marcos’ unpaid tax worth P203 billion.
The original amount was reportedly around P23 billion in 1997 but has ballooned due to penalties.
The unpaid obligation is among issues being raised against Marcos’ son, former senator Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr., who is running for president with Duterte’s daughter, Davao City Mayor Sara Duterte-Carpio, as vice presidential candidate.
Marcos has said “there’s a lot of fake news involved” in his family’s unpaid estate taxes. His spokesman, Vic Rodriguez, yesterday said some of Marcos’ rivals in the presidential race are misinforming the public “by claiming that the case has attained finality when the truth of the matter is, it is still pending in court and the ownership of the properties in litigation has yet to be settled.”
“That being the case, the fair and just tax base to be used in computing the estate tax cannot yet be established with certainty,” Rodriguez said.
George Briones, general counsel of Partido Federal ng Pilipinas under which Marcos is running, said the Supreme Court ruling on the Marcos family’s estate tax worth P23 billion is final and executory, but the surcharges could still be subject to reconciliation.
“Yung sinasabi nilang finality, ang final diyan yung assessment ng P23 billion (What is final is the assessment on the P23 billion),” he said adding that most of the amount that is now being asked of the Marcos heirs to settle are penalties and surcharges for the late filing.
“So what I am saying is the figure of P203 billion is not final sapagkat subject po iyan sa (because it is subject to) reconciliation,” he added.
To recall, the Court of Appeals in 1994 held that the deficiency assessments for “estate and income tax made upon the petitioner and the estate of the deceased President Ferdinand Marcos Sr. have already become final and unappealable.” The Supreme Court, in a ruling in 1997, denied the appeal of Marcos Jr.seeking to reverse the appellate court’s ruling.
NO PAYMENT
Carlos Dominguez, citing a report from the BIR, said the agency has been collecting and demanding payment from the Marcos estate administrators.
“They have not paid,” the BIR said in its report to Dominguez.
Earlier this month, the camp of presidential candidate Manila Mayor Francisco “Isko Moreno” Domagoso made public a letter from the BIR that said the agency sent a written demand to the Marcoses last December, following a statement from the Marcos camp that the case is still pending in court.
The BIR yesterday said it will continue to consolidate titles in favor of the government, on properties which have been levied.
“The procedure may take time as it involves selling at public auction to convert to cash,” the BIR said in its report.
“Bottomline, Marcos does not take any steps to settle and pay because pending litigation,” it added.
The President, in his weekly “Talk to the People” on Tuesday night, raised the issue of uncollected tax as he reiterated he is not suspending or stopping operations of online cockfighting (e-sabong) as he said it provides government at least P640 million worth of taxes a month.
Duterte asked where government would get funds for the COVID-19 pandemic response.
“Sa taxation natin, so ang gobyerno can only prod. Hindi naman kailangan ng reminder sa Malacañan. Nandiyan iyung BIR so tanungin natin iyang BIR bakit hanggang ngayon hindi nakolekta iyung estate tax (In our taxation, the government can only prod. Malacañang does not need to issue a reminder. BIR is there, so let us ask the BIR why it has not yet collected the estate tax until now),” he said.
Moreno’s camp has been pressing the issue of the Marcoses’ unpaid taxes and has asked the Presidential Commission on Good Government if there is truth to the claim of Marcos’ camp that it has discussed an agreement on the issue with the BIR.
Moreno said Duterte was right when he brought up the issue.
“I agree with President Duterte and I hope na makuha ito soon dahil hirap na hirap na sa bilihin at maraming nawawalan ng trabaho,” he said in Iligan City where he and his team are campaigning.
Earlier, Moreno’s chief campaign strategist Lito Banayo said 4.2 million Filipinos who were jobless during the pandemic can each get P48,833 if the P203 billion in Marcos estate tax debt were collected and used as financial aid.
Meanwhile, a wing of the Partido Federal ng Pilipinas which contested the party’s nomination of Marcos as standard bearer officially endorsed Moreno as their presidential candidate.
The wing’s leader, Abubakas Mangelen, read the party’s resolution naming Moreno as their candidate during the campaign sortie of Moreno in Iligan City.
Mangelen who identified himself as former chairperson of the PFP, filed last December a petition before the Commission on Elections seeking the declaration of nullity of the certificate of nomination and acceptance, and consequent disqualification of Marcos Jr. from the presidential race.
Mangelen is a former commissioner at the National Commission on Muslim Affairs and is also a member of the Mayor Rodrigo Roa Duterte-National Executive Coordinating Committee, which openly called for the establishment of a “revolutionary government” under President Duterte. — With Ashzel Hachero
