Aksyon Demokratiko: Aside from P203B, gov’t may also lose P125B ill-gotten wealth if Bongbong wins

Aside from the P203 billion estate tax debt of the Marcos family, the Philippine government may also forfeit around P125 billion worth of ill-gotten wealth should former Senator Ferdinand Marcos Jr. win the elections, Aksyon said Monday.

Aksyon Demokratiko chairman Ernesto Ramel said there is a separate P125 billion from cases under litigation at the Presidential Commission on Good Government (PCGG).

“What I’m afraid of if, if, Marcos luckily wins this election, we’re not only losing P203 billion, assuming — and I’m assuming he won’t ask his own BIR to collect from them no — we’re also losing another P125 billion,” Ramel told CNN Philippines.

“So we will be losing P328 billion, not just P203. And this is a lot of money in a time that we have, we’re heavily indebted. The country needs a lot of money to get tied over our constituents sa mga PIlipino, makalampas sa pandemya, sa oil surge, at kung ano-ano pang mga challenges,” he added.

GMA News Online has tried to reach out to Marcos’ spokesperson Attorney Vic Rodriguez, but he has yet to respond as of posting time.

But late last week, Marcos claimed that there are “a lot of fake news” regarding his family’s ill-gotten wealth.

“There's a lot of fake news involved there, let's leave it to the lawyers to discuss it because the so-called facts that they quote are not facts at all,” Marcos said.

When specifically asked about the estate tax debt, Marcos said these were just presumptions.

“They are just presumptions, they are not familiar with the cases or they choose not to be familiar with the case so yeah, it’s in the courts,” he said.

Aksyon’s presidential bet, Manila Mayor Francisco “Isko” Moreno, previously warned that the Philippines may lose the estate tax debt of the Marcos family if they return to power.

The Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) has sent a written demand to the Marcoses regarding their tax liabilities amounting to P203.819 billion in 2021.

“Five years thereafter, walang nag-follow up, wala na ‘yung P203 billion ng mga kababayan nating Pilipino, due for the state, due for every Filipino. ‘Yon po ‘yung pinapasok ninyo, ‘yun ‘yong pipiliin ninyo,” Moreno was quoted as saying in a statement.

Moreno had vowed to retrieve the Marcoses’ estate tax debt, proposing to use the money for aid, if he wins the presidential race. — Joahna Lei Casilao/RSJ, GMA News