Senator Imee Marcos —Senate PRIB
MANILA, Philippines — Senator Imee Marcos said any debt owed to the government must be paid, as she questioned the timing of the revival of her family’s estate tax issue and blamed “rotten politics” for it.
“Bago ang lahat, hindi ako awtoridad niyan no, kasi yung mga abogado hinahawakan yan. Thirty-six years na ang dami dami nang nangyari, medyo hilo na kami sa mga tax, tax issue na yan. Pero ang masasabi ko, kung merong utang sa gobyerno kailangang bayaran. At kami sa pamilya namin, lahat ng kaso namin, hinarap namin,” Marcos said in a interview with Teleradyo on Friday when asked about the matter.
According to Marcos, her family has been asking the Presidential Commission on Good Government (PCGG) and the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) regarding the amount of their tax payment considering the many developments that have happened over the years.
“Nagkaroon ng assessment nung 1997, kaya lang mula noon ang dami dami nang nangyari ‘di namin maintindihan. Yung iba na ina-assess, na tinatax, yung iba, binigay na sa tinatawag na cronies hindi pala amin in the first place itong mga properties na ‘to,” the senator said.
“Tapos yun namang siniquester, binenta na rin ng PCGG, binenta na rin ng BIR. So nagtatanong kami, magkano ba talaga yung nabenta syempre that will go against the tax payment. Kaya din kami nagtatanong sa PCGG at BIR matagal na, ilang dekada na, tinatanong namin. Magkano na ba talaga yan. Kasi ito nga, nalilito at yung iba’t ibang ahensya, iba naman yung suma,” she added.
Meanwhile, Marcos questioned the revival of her family’s estate tax issue.
Nevertheless, she said her family will not block any case involving their estate tax regardless of who wins the 2022 polls. Her brother, former Senator Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr., is running for president.
“Hindi ako expert diyan pagka’t di nga ako humawak ng kaso pero ang akin lang, ang dami dami nang taon, bakit biglang ngayon lumabas parang talagang paninira naman yata ito ng bulok na pulitika, inuungkat ‘to…Ang akin, yung kaso tuloy-tuloy yan kahit sino pa manalo, tuloy tuloy sa korte. Walang problema ‘yan. Hindi naman yan haharangin ng pamilya namin kailan man,” she said.
“In the meantime, kami, hinaharap namin lahat ng kaso namin at sana wag naman mahalo sa pulitika kasi mga bulok na taktika to e, bulok na politika, bakit inuungkat ngayon matapos ang halos apat na dekada,” she added.
Her family’s estate tax estimated at P203 billion has become a hot topic ahead of the May polls after the party of presidential candidate Manila Mayor Isko Moreno called for the urgent payment of the unsettled estate tax.
The camp of Marcos Jr., meanwhile, has maintained that the estate tax of the Marcos family remains unsettled since the properties linked to the case are still under litigation.
The PCGG, for its part, said the BIR “already executed its final assessment” on the involved properties as early as 1993 and that “as early as 1997, the judgment on the tax case had become final and executory.”