THE battle of certifications rages as voters await the resolution of petitions pending with the Commission on Elections to disqualify or cancel the certificate of candiddacy of presidential aspirants’ survey frontrunner Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr.
The camp of the former senator on Wednesday insisted that the presidential aspirant had settled his dues in connection with a previous tax case, and showed a tax document to back this up.
Atty. Vic Rodriguez, Marcos Jr’s spokesman, presented a copy of a Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) certification that the latter had paid his taxes and fines in full, contrary to claims of some of the petitioners that there is no record on file of such payment having been made.
The document was signed by Arsenio Tomeldan of the Collection Section of BIR Region No. 7B-East NCR of Revenue District Office No. 42-San Juan and certified that Marcos Jr. paid all “computation of deficiency income taxes and fines” for “taxable years” 1982, 1983, 1984 and 1985.
The “total deficiency taxes and penalties” paid in 2001, amounting to P67,137.27, is the exact amount that the 1997 Court of Appeals (CA) decision had ordered Marcos Jr. to pay.
The document shown by Rodriguez was also signed by Revenue District Officer Thelma D. Mangio of BIR’s Revenue District Office No. 42-San Juan.
“This certification from the BIR is 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. This invalidates the ‘mother of all lies’ being propagated by some petitioners bent on derailing his presidential bid in the 2022 elections,” said Rodriguez.
Rodriguez concluded: “So wala hong pagkakautang na buwis or tax deficiency or penalty or interest. Bayad ho at binayaran, na matagal nang panahon. [So he does not owe the government any tax or tax deficiency or penalty or interest. It was paid a long time ago.]”
In early December, some of the petitioners challenging Marcos Jr’s candidacy presented a document from the Quezon City Regional Trial Court attesting there is “no record” of compliance of payment with the 1997 Court of Appeals decision on his tax case.
The group of lawyer Theodore Te recalled that the Court of Appeals had ordered Marcos Jr. to pay fines for failure to file income tax returns between 1982 and 1985. The court also ordered him to pay the BIR the deficiency income taxes due with interest.