FACT CHECK | Video falsely claims Marcoses’ P203 billion estate tax already paid

December 16, 2022 , 12:05 PM

By Raevien Pintang

(December 16, 2022) – A Youtube video claimed the P203 billion estate tax liability of the Marcos heirs should be considered paid because of assets which were sequestered by the government and under the 2018 Tax Amnesty Act.

This claim is false.

CLAIM:

On December 10, Youtube channel “JDB’s Comments PRO FILIPINO” posted a video titled: “203 BILYON ESTATE TAX KINOKONEK SA MAHARLIKA INVESTMENT FUND (SWF)”
In response to a comment that the Marcoses’ P203 billion tax bill should be dealt with before the proposed Maharlika Wealth Fund the narrator said, “Sabihin ko na sa inyo diretsuhan po, bayad na yan. Bayad na yang 203 billion na yan.”

“Yang amnesty law na pinirmahan ni Pangulong Duterte yan po nakakasaklaw yan dito sa pinag-uusapan nating ari-arian. So nung pinirmahan po na yan ni Pangulong Duterte yang batas na yan hindi po yan sinama, kasi kung sinama yan ni Carpio hanggang 23 bilyon lang siya and again yung 23 bilyon po by common sense already paid po yan. Kailan pa yan nabayaran nung 90’s pa nung kinuha yung ari-arian sa kanila,” he continued.

RATING: FALSE

FACTS:

Estate taxes are imposed on assets left by someone who has died. Unless the estate tax is paid, the estate will not transfer to the deceased’s heir/s.

Following the death of the late dictator, former president Ferdinand Marcos Sr, in 1989, the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) slapped his heirs in 1991 with estate taxes to be paid at P23,293,607,638.

In 1994, now President Bongbong Marcos Jr. filed a case at the Pasig Regional Trial Court in protest. The case was then raised to the Court of Appeals, whose decision was affirmed by the Supreme Court in 1997.

Former Senior Associate Justice Antonio Carpio, in his column on the Philippine Daily Inquirer in September 2021, estimated that after incurring penalties and interest the unpaid estate taxes of the Marcoses would now be over P203 billion.

In 2018, Republic Act No. 11213 or the Tax Amnesty Act was signed into law. Under this law amnesty was granted for all unpaid internal revenue taxes imposed by the national government for the taxable year 2017 and prior years.

However, RA 11213 provided that estate tax amnesty shall not extend to delinquent estate tax liabilities which have become final and executory.

Additionally, amnesty is also not granted for assets involved in the following cases pending in courts:

(a) Falling under the jurisdiction of the Presidential Commission on Good Government;

(b) Involving unexplained or unlawfully acquired wealth under Republic Act No. 3019, otherwise known as the Anti-Graft and Corrupt Practices Act, and Republic Act No. 7080 or An Act Defining and Penalizing the Crime of Plunder;

(d) Involving tax evasion and other criminal offenses under Chapter II of Title X of the National Internal Revenue Code of 1997, as amended; and

(e) Involving felonies of frauds, illegal exactions and transactions, and malversation of public funds and property under Chapters III and IV of Title VII of the Revised Penal Code.

Last June former BIR Commissioner Lilia Catris Guillermo told ABS-CBN News Channel that her office will review Marcos’ estate tax case and collect his tax liabilities if the case has already been deemed final and executory.

Marcos Jr. has said that he wanted the tax case to be reopened despite the Supreme Court already ruling with finality by 1999, claiming that his family had “no chance to answer.” This claim has been debunked in fact-checks by various news organizations.

Romeo Lumagui Jr., the president’s godson was appointed BIR chief last November.

WHY THIS MATTERS:

Since it was uploaded, the video has already gained 10,853 views, 723 likes, and 75 comments. The JDB’s Comments PRO FILIPINO channel has 132,000 subscribers and 27,456,541 total views since being created on March 22, 2017.

(MM)

News5 is part of #FactsFirstPH which brings together various sectors that are committed to promoting truth in the public space, and exacting accountability on those who harm it with lies. For those interested to join the initiative, e-mail info@factsfirst.ph. Message News 5’s Facebook page if you want to have any claims fact-checked. Read our fact-checking policy here.

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