Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, April 3) — The Bureau of Internal Revenue should come up with the computation of the surcharge and penalties for the unsettled debt of the Marcos family to put an end to the questions, a former Supreme Court justice said on Sunday.
Retired Associate Justice Antonio Carpio urged the BIR to speed up the release of the computation of the surcharges on the Marcos family’s unpaid estate tax worth P23 billion. He questioned why the BIR has not done this yet to aid in the issue’s resolution.
“Ang computation ng penalties and interest, madali naman yan. Pikit mata magagawa ng BIR people yan eh. So ilabas na nila para malaman na ng buong bayan kung magkano talaga ang babayaran. Kasi importante yan, alam mo tumatakbo si Marcos Junior for president,” he said at the Balitaan sa Maynila forum on Sunday.
[Translation: The computation of penalties and interest is easy. The BIR people can do this with their eyes closed. They should release it already so people know how much they (Marcos family) will have to pay. This is important because Marcos Junior is running for president.]
Partido Federal ng Pilipinas general counsel Atty. George Briones earlier told CNN Philippines’ The Source that while the Supreme Court ruled with finality on the ₱23 billion tax liability of the Marcoses, the estimate that the amount has ballooned to ₱203 billion—mostly from penalties and surcharges—cannot be deemed final just yet.
Carpio believes the Marcos family will use the absence of the BIR’s computation as a way to delay payment of the unsettled ₱23 billion debt, which was deemed final by the Supreme Court in 1997. He said it will be harder to collect the taxes, should Marcos win the presidency.
“Kasi sinasabi ng mga Marcoses siguraduhin natin kung tama yung computation ng surcharge, penalties at interest. So it should be done right away. Wala namang deadline but that will become the excuse of the Marcoses eh. Wala pang computation eh, hinihintay namin yung computation. Papatagalin nila. So the BIR should compute everything already para wala nang excuses,” he explained.
[Translation: The Marcoses are saying that they should ensure the computation of the surcharge, penalties and interest is correct. So it should be done right away. There is no deadline, but that will become the excuse of the Marcoses. There’s no computation yet so we are still waiting for it. They will prolong it. So the BIR should compute everything already so there are no more excuses.]
The retired associate justice reiterated that the BIR can file a criminal case against the Marcos heirs for their willful refusal to pay their ₱203 billion debt. Former Philippine Commission on Good Government commissioner Ruben Carranza echoed this position in an interview on CNN Philippines’ The Source.
Carpio also reacted to President Rodrigo Duterte’s recent statement, calling out the BIR for uncollected estate tax. Despite the President not naming names, Carpio believes he should have been more clear with his directive if he wanted to collect the unpaid taxes, especially from the Marcoses.
“Ang sabi niya, dapat hindi ko na kayo sabihan. Duty niyo na yan. Alam mo, he controls eh. Pag talagang gusto niya.. Pag aayaw magbayad bukas niyan, file-an na ng criminal case yan. Ganyan dapat.”
[Translation: He said, I don’t need to tell you what to do. That is your duty. You know, he can control. If he really wants to, he can say if they don’t want to pay tomorrow, file a case against them. That’s how it should be.]
The BIR has yet to reply to CNN Philippines’ requiest for comment on the issue.
