Aksyon Demokratiko: Marcoses can pay P23 billion tax debt without criminal liability

Aksyon Demokratiko, the party of presidential candidate Francisco "Isko" Moreno, on Friday called on former Senator Ferdinand Marcos Jr. to pay his family's P23 billion estate tax debt, saying they can do so without facing criminal liability.

"Ang hinahamon na lang po namin, balik namin kay Marcos Jr., meron na po kayong amnesty, bayad na po. Sige na po," party chairman Ernesto Ramel said in a media presscon.

(Our challenge to Marcos Jr. is, "You have been given amnesty, so go ahead and please pay the debt.")

Ramel cited Republic Act 11213 which states that estate administrators, lawful heirs, or beneficiaries have until June 2021 to avail of the estate tax amnesty.

This was further extended until June 2023 by RA 11569 or the Estate Amnesty Act, which was signed by President Rodrigo Duterte in June 2021.

Under the measure, availing the Estate Tax Amnesty and the issuance of the corresponding Acceptance Payment Form do not imply any admission of criminal, civil, or administrative liability on the part of the availing estate.

However, the amnesty shall not extend to estate tax cases that shall have become final and executory.

The amnesty shall also not extend to properties involved in cases under the Presidential Commission on Good Government, unlawfully acquired wealth, violations of the Anti-Money Laundering Act, tax evasion and other criminal offenses, and felonies of frauds, illegal exactions and transactions, and malversation of public funds and property.

A general counsel of the Partido Federal ng Pilipinas, Marcos’ party, said that Supreme Court in 1997 ruled with finality that the family of late dictator Ferdinand Marcos owed P23 billion while the remainder of the P203 billion that ballooned over the years may be subject to reconciliation.

Meanwhile, Ramel also hit Senator Imee Marcos for saying that the party ws using “old tactics.”

“Senator Imee Marcos, mas marami pong bulok na taktika po kayong dineploy in the past few years, okay? It’s all over social media. The historical rewriting… ‘Yun ang pinakabulok sa lahat. ‘Yung pag sisinungaling po ninyo, ‘yung ayaw niyong pag ako sa responsibilidad ninyo, yung inyong kariwagan harapin ito,” he said.

(Senator Imee Marcos, you used even more underhanded tactics in the past few years, okay? It’s all over social media. The historical rewriting… That tactic is the most underhanded of all. Lying about it, your refusal to take responsibility, the cowardly way you will not face this.)

Further, alleging that Moreno sold the Divisoria Public Market was another tactic Marcos vloggers resorted to after the party brought up the Marcos family's P203 billion estate tax debt.

"Yung mga bumabanat at nagpapakalat at nag papa-propagate ng black propaganda against Mayor Isko about Divisoria are the Marcos vloggers, are the Marcos supporters," Ramel said.

"So tingin namin, they are so hurt by the truth that now they are muddling the issue using this Divisoria," he added.

The Aksyon chairman said the vloggers were "surrogates."

"So malinaw na malinaw na meron silang surrogate na hindi sila- duwag eh. Ayaw nila sila mismo magsabi ng mga black propaganda nila, nag mamalinis sila, na campaign of unity daw sila. Pero sa totoo lang matagal na sila nagkakalat ng kasinungalingan sa social media," he said.

(It's very clear that they have surrogates, and they are not the ones... it's cowardly. They don't want to be spreading their black propaganda, they're pretending to have clean hands, that they are a campaign of unity. But honestly, they're the ones spreading lies on social media.)

GMA News Online had sought the Marcos camp's response to the Aksyon Demokratiko statements, but they have yet to respond as of posting time.

For his part, Moreno has said that someone may have been "hurt" by his insistence that the Marcoses pay their debt.

Mewanwhile, according to Manila councilor Princess Abante, the Manila government in 1991 enacted an ordinance that authorized the then city mayor to enter a contract for the redevelopment of the Divisoria Market for 25 years.  A year later, Linkworld was awarded a contract to develop and manage the Divisoria market.

The corporation extended its term for another 25 years after the new Divisoria mall was hit by fire in May 2013. Former Manila mayor Joseph Estrada later entered another agreement with Linkworld, extending the original agreement for another 25 years until 2046. 

"In sum, for the past 30 years, the City Government of Manila has underutilized this property. When the pandemic hit the whole world, kinailangan ng Lungsod ng Maynila na gumawa ng mabilis na aksyon patungo sa paggagawa ng tunay na solusyon para mabigyan namin ng tulong ang bawat Manileno para sa pagdating ng COVID-19 virus," she said. — DVM, GMA News