CHECK out presidential candidate Isko Moreno
Domagoso's recent statements, his recent screams on the campaign
trail:
– "If I become president, I promise I will collect the P203
billion unpaid estate tax of the Marcos family";
– "The P203-billion estate tax could feed rice to 59.7
million Filipinos daily for a year if the Bureau of Internal
Revenue is able to collect it."
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| (photo credit to owner) |
Obviously on the same intellectual level as Isko is another
candidate, Panfilo Lacson,
who became was his echo chamber, pontificating that the "P203 billion
estate taxes" won't be collected if Marcos Jr. wins
the presidency.
There is no P203 billion unpaid estate tax. A single scheming
devious person, retired justice Antonio Carpio,
invented that astronomical "unpaid tax" number. This is another proof
of that adage attributed to Mark Twain: "A lie can travel around the world
and back again while the truth is lacing up its boots."
What is wrong with these people? And they are running for
president? That P203 billion figure is entirely Carpio's invention. He came up
with that phantom figure in his newspaper column by computing the interest
rates and penalties on P23 billion which Cory's Bureau of Internal Revenue
claimed in 1990 was the Marcos family's estate taxes, otherwise known as
inheritance taxes, levied on properties he supposedly left when he died in June
1989.
But the Marcos heirs had not acquired those assets. How could
they? They were sequestered, ordered by the court to be returned to their
owners (such as Edgardo Cojuangco Jr. and Roberto S.
Benedicto) or auctioned off by government.
These are inheritance taxes, which means the Marcos heirs would
have to pay that much if the Marcos properties were turned over to them. No
turnover, no inheritance tax, and it is astonishing how two presidential
candidates can't seem to understand this.
Panic
At that time, the Cory regime was in a panic to make sure that the
Marcos heirs would not be able to get the strongman's properties after he died
in June 1989. This was an imperative for the Yellows, since four years after
the EDSA uprising, their hold on power was tenuous, with military mutineers
launching coup after coup. Especially with Cory's poor governance, the Marcos
forces were fast gaining strength they seemed to be in a position to win the
1992 elections. (Indeed, if the Marcos votes had not been split with Edgardo
Cojuangco and Imelda both running, there would have been a Marcos
counterrevolution at that time.)
The BIR, however, included as Marcos properties to be levied the
inheritance taxes even those assets sequestered by the Presidential
Commission on Good Government. Why such a boo-boo?
First,
because the Cory's BIR didn't really know what were Marcos' properties, and
believe it or not, as Imelda Marcos had told the court, he had not executed a last will and
testament — which would have declared this and this property belongs to Imelda,
that to Bongbong, etc.
Second and more importantly, Cory instructed the
BIR to come up with an obviously astronomical figure — P23 billion — as the
inheritance tax, so the Marcos heirs would not be able to raise, even if they
had, as Cory believed, the fabled Yamashita gold. It was easy for the crazy BIR
guys to do it: Just take the word (i.e., propaganda) of the PCGG that the
Marcos properties were worth over P100 billion (excluding the alleged Swiss
bank deposits).
Inheritance
Since the inheritance tax was computed at that time
at 20 percent (reduced under the Train Law to just 6 percent) of the value of
the assets-to-be-inherited, voila, the taxes purportedly totaled P23 billion.
That is, if the Marcos assets, which were sequestered, were to be transferred
to them.
It was in reality a ruthless operation of the Cory
regime. The often repeated claim that the "assessment" was
"final and executory" (and that this has been affirmed by the Supreme
Court) is based on the BIR's allegation that the Marcoses failed to reply to
the assessment 30 days after it was served in September 1990.
To whom was it served? To a clueless caretaker at the Marcoses'
practically abandoned residence in San Juan, who most probably put the BIR
documents in his aparador for safekeeping until his employers returned. Why
"abandoned"? Because after the Marcoses were shanghaied to Hawaii in
February 1986, the Cory government banned them from coming home, refusing to
issue them passports. The Cory government in fact allowed the Marcoses to
return to their country only in October 1991 to finally bury the strongman's
remains— on condition that he be buried immediately in his birth town — Batac, Ilocos
Norte.
BIR list
There is no unpaid inheritance tax of P203 billion, as the Marcos
estate has not been given control of assets in that BIR list, such as La Carlota Sugar
Mills, Liwayway
Publishing Inc., Manila Golf and Country Club shares, and even the
Manila Bulletin.
Didn't Isko (and Lacson) first study this issue before they went
to town screaming "unpaid taxes, Marcos has unpaid taxes!"? Didn't
they stop and pause to think: "Why has this gross tax evasion issue
emerged only now, when the Fidel Ramos and especially the Benigno Aquino 3rd
regimes left no stone unturned to find some dirt on the Marcoses and on his
political heir, Bongbong? Why on earth did they believe Carpio who has a long
track record of twisting facts and legalities to come up with colossal
deceptions?
Why the heck did Isko believe his advisers Lito Banayo and Ernest Ramel who
first told him about this "unpaid estate taxes," both of who have no
track record of 1) solid propaganda work; and 2) intelligence? Didn't they have
any common sense as to consult past BIR heads?
With Isko's gullibility, I won't be surprised if
Carpio tells him the Chinese will invade the Philippines before election day,
and he'll be running around demanding the Philippine Army immediately be
mobilized for war.
Gullible
This episode though is a reminder to voters of that
criterion very necessary for a president: he must not be gullible. From my
studies (as a reporter) on the past six presidents, it is even better for the
Philippines to have a corrupt president, rather than a dumb one.
With due respect to the dead, the two Aquino
presidents were our most gullible presidents, who believed in whatever was
whispered to them by schemers in their Cabinet or inner circle who went on to
become among the country's secret billionaires. All types of schemers and con
men will flock to a president, disguising themselves as crusaders and real
servants of the people, to convince him or her that what they propose will be
good for the country.
One thing which certainly contributes to a president's ability to
judge the people around him is the extent of his experience in an executive
position in government. Isko and Lacson obviously have had not enough time in
executive positions. No wonder.
Quoted
fully from Mr. Rigoberto Tiglao’s column
The
Manila Times
April
1, 2022
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