Koko to pursue Senate probe on BIR inaction on unpaid Marcos estate taxes

Senator Aquilino “Koko” Pimentel III on Thursday said he would still pursue a Senate investigation against the Bureau of Internal Revenue’s (BIR) alleged inaction on the billions worth of unsettled estate taxes of the Marcos family.

“Yes, I would have to refile that because actually that is really directed to the BIR, for the BIR to explain,” Pimentel said in a CNN interview when asked if he will still seek an investigation on the circumstances that led to the non-payment of the estate taxes of the family of the late dictator Ferdinand Marcos Sr.

“Tandaan natin (we should remember) that there are still people dying, death will continue to be with us. So therefore, estate [taxes] would have to be settled. The BIR should explain why such a large estate has not been pressured to settle. So how about the smaller ones, the medium size estates? So the BIR should give us a very clear policy guideline on what to do in the settlement of estates,” he explained.

Pimentel maintained that the investigation is sought to find out if there are “weaknesses” in the National Internal Revenue Code that governs the payment of estate taxes.

“The question is: Can the BIR execute their findings if the amount has been determined by the BIR and the heirs claim that they have no resources to pay or we do not want to pay? What is the next step that the BIR could take?” he said.

Under the law, Pimentel said that registration of estates cannot be transferred to the heirs if the BIR did not give a clearance that the estate taxes have already been paid.

“Is that what happened here? Was there a stalemate? Were the properties under the name of Ferdinand Marcos Sr. still in the name of the decedent? Did the heirs find a way to transfer the registration to them? So we will have to ask one of these questions,” he added.

For Pimentel, this investigation is important so that the government could inform its people about the laws and the regulations that cover the settlement of the estate taxes.

“We need to tell the people to follow the law and settle your estates properly, small estates up to very large estates, covered po ng batas ‘yan… Ang hearing na 'yon (that hearing), if it will help the people understand the estate tax system ng bansa, then marami na po tayong natulungan (we have helped a lot of people),” he pointed out.

In the 18th Congress, Pimentel filed a resolution calling for a Senate inquiry into the Bureau of Internal Revenue's (BIR's) alleged "failure" to collect the multi-billion estate tax dues of the Marcos family.

This, however, was filed only in April when the 18th Congress was on break for the 2022 national and local elections campaign.

Earlier, the BIR said it had sent a written demand to the Marcoses regarding their tax liabilities amounting to P203.819 billion last year.

On March 30, the Department of Finance said the BIR continued to demand that the Marcos family settle their estate tax debt.

However, Senator Imee Marcos claimed that her family had not received any communication from the BIR.

Documents from the Supreme Court showed that the assessment of multi-billion estate taxes already became final and executory in 1999.

Apart from this, Pimentel has expressed support to Senator Risa Hontiveros’ plan to revive the investigation on the government procurement of COVID-19 supplies from Pharmally Pharmaceutical Corporation.

“Senator Risa has a plan to revive the Pharmally issue in the Senate in the 19th Congress and I think it can be done but that would be referred to the same committee Senate Blue Ribbon Committee, which will now be headed by a new senator. So the action of the chairman we do not know, we cannot predict but the attempt to revive it by refiling a resolution covering the same subject matter is possible,” he said.

In the 18th Congress, the Senate blue ribbon committee, headed by outgoing Senator Richard Gordon,  investigated the transfer of P42 billion worth of COVID-19 funds from the Department of Health to the Department of Budget and Management Procurement Service (DBM-PS).

The probe focused mainly on PS-DBM’s purchase of P8.6 billion worth of face masks, face shields, and PPEs from Pharmally, a firm that only had P625,000 in paid-up capital when it entered into government transactions.

In February, Gordon had released a partial report recommending the filing of criminal charges against Pharmally officials Linconn Ong and Mohit Dargani, and several government officials and individuals in connection with the alleged anomalous purchases of COVID-19 supplies.

The report also claimed that President Rodrigo Duterte betrayed the public trust in connection with his actions related to the government's multi-billion-peso contracts with Pharmally.

However, it was not reported out to the plenary as some members of the committee did not sign the report until the last session day of the Senate.

Meanwhile, Pimentel urged the government to temporarily suspend the excise taxes and the value added tax on petroleum products amid the increasing prices of oil in the country.

“Mayroong excise tax alisin na natin 'yan kahit temporarily, tapos sa mga transactions over fuel mayroong VAT, tanggalin na rin natin 'yan kahit temporarily (We could temporarily suspend the excise taxes and VAT),” Pimentel said in the same television interview.

While the government is studying this, the lawmaker also proposed that the government should evaluate the possible permanent exemption of fuel products from levies, pointing out that oil is crucial in the daily activities of the Filipinos.

“Pero in the long term, gawin nating lesson ito na siguro may mga bagay o transactions na ‘di na dapat bina-VAT, may mga bagay na hindi na dapat nilalagyan ng excise tax kahit kumikita ang gobyerno kasi nga they are used by the people every day hindi makakilos ang taumbayan o ang ordinary individual kung napakamahal ng transportation cost,” he explained.

(But in the long term, we should take this as a lesson that some products or transactions should not be imposed with VAT and excise taxes even if the government gets revenues from it because they are used by the people every day. The Filipinos could not go on with their usual activities if the transportation cost is very high.)

“Maybe if we need to forego this type of revenue, kasi cash in supposedly ‘yan sa gobyerno ang ating panawagan is the government to learn [to] live without that cash flow,” he added.

To recuperate the revenue losses from the supposed non-imposition of taxes on fuel products, Pimentel suggested the government should “tighten” its belt in terms of the annual budget and skip the allocation of funds to programs and projects which are not considered as a priority.

In a press briefing Tuesday, Presidential Communications Secretary Martin Andanar said the outgoing administration of President Rodrigo Duterte will maintain its position on the non-suspension of the excise taxes on fuel despite the rising oil prices as the revenues from these duties are needed to fund the government programs.

Further, Pimentel said the Land Transportation and Franchising Regulatory Board as well as the other regulatory bodies should be "sensitive, responsive, and proactive" in terms of cushioning the impact of rising oil prices to Filipino commuters.

He made the statement following the LTFRB's approval of a P1 provisional increase on the minimum fare of public utility jeepneys barely three months after transportation groups filed a petition seeking a P5 fare hike.—AOL, GMA News