Carpio doubts Marcos paid penalties imposed by court over tax case

FILE PHOTO: Former Supreme Court Senior Associate Justice Antonio Carpio. EDWIN BACASMAS/INQUIRER

MANILA, Philippines — Did former Sen. Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. just admit his failure to comply with his court sentence?

Retired Supreme Court Senior Associate Justice Antonio Carpio raised this question on Tuesday as he noted that Marcos’ camp did not mention if he had satisfied the court’s order for him to settle his tax deficiencies in his answer to the petition opposing his presidential bid in the Commission on Elections.

Instead, the son and namesake of dictator Ferdinand Marcos merely argued that the disqualification case against him should be tossed out since the 1997 ruling of the Court of Appeals (CA) did not find him guilty of committing a crime involving moral turpitude.

The appellate court’s decision upheld the earlier ruling of a Quezon City court in 1995 that found the younger Marcos guilty of nonpayment of taxes and failure to file income tax returns from 1982 to 1985 when he was vice governor and later, governor of Ilocos Norte.

The decision became final and executory in 2001 after he withdrew his appeal in the Supreme Court.

“In his answer, Marcos did not state that he paid the fine and deficiency taxes imposed by the CA,” Carpio told the Inquirer.

“I think [he] did not pay the fine and deficiency income taxes as ordered by the final and executory CA decision,” he added.

Carpio said this could be the reason why Marcos’ counsels, headed by veteran lawyer Estelito Mendoza, did not argue that the petition against him should be junked since he had already served his sentence with the payment of the tax dues and penalties.