Hearing such demand from Ferdinand ‘Bongbong’ Marcos Jr. for the public “to pay the correct amount of taxes on time”, the head of the state drew an ire to netizens that they took over social media platforms and expressed their reactions and commentaries.
One tweeted that Marcos Jr. being the president does not exclude him and her mother Imelda for their refusal to pay estate tax.
“I encourage the public to pay the correct amount of taxes on time to support the country’s economic recovery and expansion so critical in this time,” said Marcos Jr. during the launch of Bureau of Internal Revenue’s (BIR) national tax campaign in Pasay City yesterday, February 7.
“It is my confidence that you will continue to cooperate, collaborate, and coordinate with the government on how to improve the experience of our tax collection system,” he added.
Marcos Jr. also told BIR to uphold the highest standards of integrity and professional service to boost public confidence in the country’s taxation system. He even assured the public that his administration would consistently use taxes to benefit everyone.
Martial law victims, human rights groups, even solons have been persistent to call on the taxation agency regarding the whopping P203 billion estate of Marcos estate. That as co-administrators of the Marcos estate affirm Marcos Jr. and Imelda have “the primary obligation to pay estate taxes, before any heir including themselves can receive a single centavo from the Marcos estate.”
Such humongous amount of estate tax assessment initially amounted to P23 billion and has further ballooned to P203 billion due to penalties and interest accumulation over the years.
September last year, Marcos Jr. said he would be willing to reopen the case on the P203-billion estate tax against his family.
“Open the case and let us argue it so that all of the things that we should have been able to say in 1987, ’88, ’89 that we were not able to say, we can clarify the properties that they say belong to us,” he added.
It must be emphasized that the Supreme Court third division already declared final and executory verdict on the Marcos’ estate tax and issued resolution dated March 9, 1999. Even Former Supreme Court justice Antonio Carpio and the Presidential Commission on Good Governance said that the SC ruling can no longer be questioned before any court.
