The camp of former senator and 2022 presidential aspirant Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. said Wednesday he owed no taxes to the government, showing a certification from the Bureau of Internal Revenue.
Marcos’ spokesman Vic Rodriguez presented at a press conference what he said was a certificate from the Bureau of Internal Revenue, showing the 64-year-old presidential aspirant already paid his taxes for the years 1982 to 1985 with interest.
“So Ferdinand Bongbong Marcos, Jr. owes no taxes or has no tax deficiencies or penalties or interest. It has all been paid long ago. They paid December 27, 2001,” Rodriguez said.
Earlier this month, Theodore Te, a lawyer for petitioners from human rights groups, sought the cancellation of Marcos’ certificate of candidacy, presenting a document that showed Marcos “has not satisfied the judgment” or has not paid the penalty in his tax conviction case.
“This is to certify that there is no record on file of [the] compliance of payment or satisfaction for the decision of the Regional Trial Court dated July 27, 1995 or the Court of Appeals dated October 31, 1997,” read the certification from Quezon City Regional Trial Court Branch 105 that Te requested.
There is also no record of the “entry in the criminal docket of the RTC Decision dated July 27, 1995 as affirmed/modified of (sic) the Court of Appeal’s Decision.”
The QC RTC originally sentenced Marcos to 9 years in prison and ordered him to pay fines worth P72,000 for failing to file his income tax return and to pay taxes from 1982 to 1985, aside from his alleged tax deficiencies worth around P20,000.
The CA, in 1997, modified this, acquitting him of non-payment of taxes but affirming his conviction for non-filing of ITRs.
It removed the jail term but ordered him to pay P36,000 in fines plus surcharges.
It also ordered him to pay the Bureau of Internal Revenue the income tax deficiencies due with interest.
But in Wednesday’s news briefing, Rodriguez presented the BIR certification issued last December 9, 2021.
The document, signed by Arsenio Tomeldan of the Collection Section of BIR Region No.7B-East NCR of Revenue District Office No.42-San Juan, specifically indicated that Marcos paid the amount that covers the computation of deficiency income taxes and fines covering the taxable years for 1982, 1983, 1984, and 1985 at the Land Bank of the Philippines.
The total deficiency taxes and penalties paid in 2001 amounted to a total of P67,137.27, the exact amount stipulated in the 1997 Court of Appeals decision.
Collection Section Chief Adelfa L. Mateo, attested the certification which was noted and signed by Revenue District Officer Thelma D. Mangio.
“This certification from the BIR is an undeniable proof that former Senator Ferdinand ‘Bongbong’ Marcos, Jr. complied with the payment of deficient taxes and fines as ordered in the 1997 CA ruling,” Rodriguez said.
“This invalidates the ‘mother of all lies’ being propagated by some petitioners bent on derailing his presidential bid in the 2022 elections,” he told the news briefing.
Rodriguez said the petitions were nothing but ‘nuisance’ petitions before the Commission on Elections attempting to deny due course or cancel Marcos’s certificate of candidacy.
“We hope that with this certification, all issues arising from his alleged non-payment of taxes will be finally put to rest, and that we can now all celebrate Christmas with peace of mind,” Rodriguez said.
“Former Senator Marcos’s call for unity extends even to the groups who filed the petitions seeking his disqualification. The UniTeam sees it as the only way to move past this pandemic and uplift our people. We hope that they join us in this endeavor,” Rodriguez added.