Dominguez determined to collect Marcos estate tax (Sabong News)

Until the end of President Duterte’s term, the current administration will be determined to collect the unpaid estate tax of the heirs of the late former President Ferdinand E. Marcos, the Department of Finance (DOF) said. On the sidelines of the Philippine Economic Briefing on Tuesday, April 5, Finance Secretary Carlos G. Dominguez III disclosed that there have been discussions with the Bureau of the Internal Revenue (BIR) regarding the multi-billion tax liability of the Marcos family. “Yes, we have been in discussions with the Bureau of Internal Revenue on this issue and they are studying the issue very carefully,” Dominguez told reporters. The finance chief, however, admitted that since the former president’s passing in 1989, his estate has been “encrusted with the number of court cases.” But despite the mounting court cases hounding the Marcos family, Dominguez said the BIR is “trying to cut through all these issues in order to do the job” and collect. Amid conflicting computations on the actual tax liability of the heirs of the former dictator, Dominguez said that it is for the BIR to determine. “There are several amounts that have been floated around. There was the amount of originally P89 billion and then it became P23 billion and then now because of penalties and interest, it’s now they say around P203 billion,” he said. Last March 30, the BIR reported to Dominguez that the Marcos heirs continue to refuse to pay the estate tax. For this reason, the BIR indicated to the DOF that the bureau will instead consolidate the real estate titles, or properties under the name of former President Marcos, and put them on the auction block. The BIR, however, admitted that selling these Marcos properties “may take time.” “Bottomline Marcos does not take any steps to settle and pay because pending litigation,” the BIR reported to the DOF. “BIR is collecting and demanded payment from the Marcos estate administrators.” The BIR report to Dominguez comes hours after President Duterte’s weekly Talk to the People aired where he called out the bureau for its failure to collect a certain estate tax. The chief executive, however, did not say from whom. “They [Marcos estate administrators] have not paid,” the tax bureau declared in the report. “BIR will continue to consolidate the titles in favor of the government on those properties which have been levied upon. The procedure may take time as it involves selling at public auction to convert to cash,” the bureau added. Earlier, Victor D. Rodriguez, spokesperson of presidential candidate Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. maintained that the heirs of the former chief executive cannot settle yet the family’s unpaid estate tax. “Our rivals are misdirecting everyone by claiming that the case has attained finality when the truth of the matter is, it is still pending in court,” Rodriguez said in a statement. In 1997, the Supreme Court affirmed a decision by the Court of Appeals on the Marcos family’s estate tax liability as final and executory. Retired Supreme Court Justice Antonio T. Carpio estimated that the Marcos heirs’ estate tax had ballooned to P203.8 billion due to interests and penalties after they refused to pay it.