Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, April 18) — Lawmakers of Bayan Muna have filed a resolution urging the Congress to launch an investigation into the unpaid taxes of the Marcos family, which have now ballooned to more than ₱200 billion.
House Resolution No 2553, which was received at the House of Representatives last April 12, wants the Committee on Good Government and Public Accountability to lead the conduct of the probe.
Signatories of the resolution were Representatives Eufemia Cullamat, Carlos Isagani Zarate, and Ferdinand Gaite.
In a letter addressed to Aksyon Demokratiko chairman Ernest Ramel, Jr., the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) confirmed it sent “a written demand letter to the Marcos heirs on Dec. 02, 2021 regarding their liabilities.”
READ: BIR says it sent written demand to Marcos family to pay tax liabilities in late 2021
The representatives also noted the Supreme Court’s decision ordering the Marcos heirs to pay ₱23 billion in estate tax on June 5, 1997. From this initial amount, tax liabilities are now estimated at ₱203 billion, the lawmakers said.
“It has been around 25 years since the BIR assessed the estate tax deficiencies on the Marcos estate in 1997 and more than two decades since the Supreme Court ruled with finality on the estate tax deficiency in 1999. Yet, no payment has been made by the heirs of Marcos,” the resolution stated.
“Worse, there is a possibility that this tax deficiency may not be collected at all in the event of another Marcos presidency,” it added.
Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos, Jr., son and namesake of the late dictator, has been leading presidential race surveys.
The lawmakers stressed the need to collect the estate tax deficiencies, saying such amount of money could “help fund much-needed aid and social services for the people, especially as the country continues to recover from the effects of the pandemic.”
