Bongbong Marcos on unpaid estate taxes: ‘A lot of fake news involved there’

Mandaluyong City (CNN Philippines, March 17) — Presidential candidate Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. has claimed that “there’s a lot of fake news involved” in his family’s unpaid estate taxes despite the 1997 Supreme Court ruling that they must settle their tax liabilities.

During the Kapihan Sa Manila Bay media forum on Wednesday, he faced a number of issues hounding his presidential bid. One of them is the Marcos family’s unsettled estate tax liabilities that may have reached ₱203 billion as of 2021 from ₱23 billion in 1997.

“Well, there’s a lot of fake news involved there. Let’s leave it to the lawyers to discuss it,” he said when asked about his family’s unpaid estate taxes.

“The so-called facts that they call are not facts at all. They’re just presumptions,” he added.

The son of the late dictator Ferdinand Marcos Sr. also said he is not familiar with the case and he will just follow the court’s decision.

In 1997, the Supreme Court ruled that the Marcos family must settle their unpaid estate taxes.

‘Written demand’

Hours after the media forum, the Aksyon Demokratiko party of presidential bet Manila Mayor Isko Moreno showed a letter supposedly from the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR).

“We have received a copy of a letter of Commissioner (Caesar) Dulay ng BIR na sinulatan sila noong December 2, 2021, na sinisingil na ng buwis ang pamilya Marcos sapagkat ito raw ay marapat lang na mapunta sa gobyerno. If that is the case, this is a very good asset, malaking pera ito, ₱200 billion na pwede nating ipang-ayuda sa tao,” Moreno said in an ambush interview during his campaign activities in Silay City, Negros Occidental.

[Translation: We have received a copy of a letter of Commissioner Caesar Dulay of BIR stating that last December 2, 2021, they demanded that the Marcos family pay their estate taxes because it must be given to the government. If that is the case, this is a very good asset, this is a huge money, ₱200 billion that we can give as aid to the people.]

READ: BIR says it sent written demand to Marcos family to pay tax liabilities in late 2021