Tax legal experts like former Senator Juan Ponce Enrile and Bureau of Internal Revenue Deputy Commissioner Edwin Abella insulate presidential candidate Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos, Jr. and mother Imelda as civilly liable to the P23 billion estate tax –that ballooned to P203 billion – since the demise in 1989 of former President Ferdinand Marcos. In the Q & A below former Supreme Court Justice Antonio Carpio told this writer that the two Marcos heirs and Executors/Administrators are not only civilly but criminally liable.
The interview with the former Magistrate ensued when I
bumped with him, former Ombudsman Conchita Carpio (a retired SC Justice, too),
and some members of the 1Sambayan –headed by Carpio - before the start this
month of the grand rally of presidential bet Leni Robredo in Dagupan City. It
was attended by a mammoth 76,000 jostling, shoving, and screaming. Excerpts of the interviews:
MORTZ C. ORTIGOZA
(MCO): Sir, iyong criminal liability puwede talagang e imposed sa kay BBM (Presidential
candidate Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos, Jr.) and Imelda (Marcos)?
JUSTICE ANTONIO CARPIO (JAC): If there is a willful refusal it’s a crime – willful refusal.
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POSTERITY POSE with the luminaries of the 1Sambayan – a coalition of democratic forces in the Philippines - when they grace the rally of presidential candidate Leni Robredo and slate held recently in Dagupan City. L-to-R: 1Sambayan Convenor maverick and retired Supreme Court Justice Antonio Carpio, Writer Mortz C. Ortigoza, and former Ombudsman and Supreme Court Justice Conchita Carpio. Not in photo but share the same dinner table with Carpio are Ambassador Albert del Rosario, former Congressman Monsour del Rosario, and others.
MCO: Sa Section
107, Marcos Presidential Decree No. 69 (1972) nakalagay kasi “criminally liable is case of failure to
file estate tax return and/or of failure to pay estate taxes due“. Ang tatamaan doon Administrator saka
Executor?
JAC: OO.
MCO: Iyong heirs
puwedeng matamaan diyan sa criminal liability?
JAC: Pag nalipat
na iyong property sa kanila pero ayaw pa rin nila magbayad ng tax tatamaan
sila.
MCO: We used
there (law against the P203 billion estate tax) iyong amended Presidential Decree sa 1959 na tax Code. President Marcos
died in 1989…
JAC: Ah ah.. .under... it’s always been there.
MCO: Kasi may
bago tayong Internal Revenue Code of 1996, hindi iyan applicable doon?
JAC: The 1977 Tax
Code that was 77 iyon iyong madaming amendment tapos (inaudible) na lang… pero
nasa 1977 iyon e.
MCO: Sa tingin
ninyo sa Senate investigation sa P203 billion ng Marcos Estate Tax malaking
impact ito sa presidential candidacy of BBM (Marcos, Jr.) several weeks before
the election?
JAC: Well, they
can come out with the exact amount. Kasi we knew already the primary amount
P23.3 billion. E magkano iyong surcharge and interest for those years? Nobody has
really come out with that definite figure. So dapat ang gagawin ng Senate
tawagin iyong BIR (Bureau of Internal Revenue) “Ano ba talaga?”.
MCO: Oo kasi may
decision na ang Supreme Court noong 1999, may levy na bakit ganoon ang BIR –
nagkabayaran ba?
JAC: E alam mo pag
ang hahabulin mo Senator (Marcos was a former Senator - MCO) ang hirap! Di ba Senator babangain mo Examiner ka lang ng BIR?
Lalo na pag Presidente. Pag naging Presidente iyan wala na goodbye na.
MCO: Kailan mag
start ang Senate hearing diyan?
JAC: I don’t know
when hinde ko alam.
MCO: Malaking
bagay ba iyang Senate investigation sa electoral stocks ni Leni (Robredo,
presidential candidate)?
JAC: If the
public will understand the issue.
MCO: Sige Sir.
Mas magaling ko kayo kaysa kay (former Senator) Juan Ponce Enrile and (BIR
Deputy Commissioner) Edwin Abella.
(Former Justice Carpio and former Ombudsman Conchita Morales
who eavesdropped on the Q&A held at their dinner table chuckle)
MORALES: Ikaw
naman!
JAC: Sabi ni Johhny (Enrile) wala pa daw siyang talo sa kaso (after he told the media that he volunteers himself to be the counsel of Marcos - MCO) pero nakakulong pa iyong girlfriend niya (Enrile’s Senate Aide Lawyer Jessica Lucila “Gigi” Reyes, indicted and jailed over the P10-billion pork barrel scam).
(Members of the 1Sambayan like Morales, former Foreign Affairs Secretary, then Ambassador Albert del Rosario, former Congressman Monsour del Rosario, and others laugh on the last statement of Justice Carpio)
READ MY OTHER INTERVIEW WITH THE AMBASSADOR OF VIETNAM
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