STILL UNPAID? | Marcos has no record of paying fines for tax evasion case, says court document

December 3, 2021 , 03:25 PM

By Beatrice Puente

(December 3, 2021) – Presidential aspirant Bongbong Marcos Jr. has no lower court record proving that he paid the fine imposed on his tax conviction more than two decades ago, the lawyers of a group of petitioners seeking to cancel his certificate of candidacy (COC) said on Friday.

Atty. Ted Te obtained a certification from the Quezon City Regional Trial Court Branch 105 saying it has no record on the “compliance of payment or satisfaction of the decision” on the case of Marcos.

“The certification simply cements what we have already said in the petition. The respondent has been convicted and the sentence remains unserved,” said Te in a press statement.

Marcos, the late dictator’s son, was convicted for not filing and paying his income tax returns (ITR) from 1982 to 1985 while he was still the Ilocos Norte governor. He was supposed to serve at least nine years in prison along with the payment of fine but the Court of Appeals (CA) removed the jail term in a 1997 decision.

Marcos was told to pay P2,000 for each charge related to his non-filing of ITR from 1982 to 1984 and a separate P30,000 for 1985. The CA also ordered Marcos to pay P20,000 for his tax deficiency. He originally planned to elevate the case to the Supreme Court but did not push through, making the decision final and executory in 2001.

“His continuing evasion of the sentence, coupled with his repeated misrepresentation of his eligibility all those times he ran for public office, is evidence of his intent to deceive the electorate and not to abide by the laws he aspires to execute,” said Te.

Te said the petitioners will bring the matter to the attention of the Commission on Elections (Comelec) and the Office of the Quezon City Prosecutor.

Marcos has yet to comment on the issue.

In a petition, Partido Federal ng Pilipinas (PFP) claimed that Marcos already paid P67,137 on December 27, 2001. PFP filed a petition for intervention in late November to defend its standard-bearer, urging the Comelec to throw out what the party described as “baseless and misleading” petitions against Marcos.

Te’s camp has five days to respond to the petition filed by Marcos’ allies, based on an order issued by the Comelec Second Division, presided by commissioner Socorro Inting, on December 2.

Marcos is facing at least seven petitions against his candidacy in the 2022 elections in what many have considered as the most contested presidential bid in recent history.

Most of the petitions are seeking to cancel Marcos’ COC over false material representation for denying he was convicted of a case perpetually disqualifying him from public office.

Two petitions—filed by Martial Law victims and progressive group Akbayan—want to disqualify Marcos from running based on his tax conviction, stressing that it constitutes an act of moral turpitude.

(PM)

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