PH Govt preparing to auction Marcos properties due to tax deficiencies – DOF

Metro Manila– The Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) is consolidating the titles of the Marcoses’ properties in favor of the government so they can be sold at a public auction and the proceeds used to settle the family’s tax deficiencies, Finance Secretary Carlos Dominguez III said on Thursday.

Dominguez III said the BIR, an agency under the Department of Finance, is collecting payment and demanding that the Marcos family settle their tax liabilities.

“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,” Dominguez told reporters.

Government rules provide that an individual’s properties can be auctioned off to settle tax deficiencies.

“They have not paid,” Dominguez said. “(The) Bottomline (is) Marcos does not take any steps to settle and pay because pending litigation.”

Speaking to CNN Philippines’ The Source on Wednesday, Partido Federal ng Pilipinas general counsel Atty. George Briones said the ₱203 billion worth of estate tax liabilities being reported, which includes penalties and surcharges on the Marcos family’s tax deficiency, cannot be deemed final just yet.

“Yung sinasabi nilang finality, ang final diyan yung assessment ng (What was being referred to as a decision with finality is the assessment on the) ₱23 billion,” said Briones, referring to the 1997 Supreme Court ruling that ordered the Marcos heirs to pay that amount.

BIR Commissioner Caesar Dulay, in a March 14 letter to Aksyon Demokratiko chairman Ernest Ramel, Jr., confirmed that the bureau has demanded that the Marcoses settle their tax liabilities.

Without naming names, President Rodrigo Duterte recently called on the BIR to start collecting a certain estate tax due as an additional source of government revenue.

The Marcoses’ tax liabilities have also become a campaign issue as Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. is one of the 10 candidates vying to be the country’s next president.

Marcos is running with Duterte’s daughter Sara as his vice presidential candidate.

Marcos’ presidential race rivals Ping Lacson, Isko Moreno, Leni Robredo, and Leody De Guzman have pushed the son and namesake of late dictator Ferdinand Marcos to settle their family’s tax liabilities.