BIR to sell Marcos properties

The Bureau of the Internal Revenue (BIR) is planning to auction off some of the properties of the late President Ferdinand E. Marcos as his heirs continue to refuse in paying the estate tax.

In a report to Finance Secretary Carlos G. Dominguez III on Wednesday, March 30, the BIR disclosed that the heirs of former President Marcos have not paid any estate tax despite the bureau’s demands and efforts.

For this reason, the BIR indicated to Dominguez that the agency will instead consolidate the real estate titles, or properties under the name of former President Marcoses, and put them on the auction block.

The BIR, however, admitted that selling these Marcos properties “may take time.”

“Bottomline Marcos does not take any steps to settle and pay because pending litigation,” the BIR reported to the DOF. “BIR is collecting and demanded payment from the Marcos estate administrators.”

The BIR report to Dominguez comes hours after President Duterte’s weekly Talk to the People aired on Wednesday where he called out the bureau for its failure to collect a certain estate tax. The chief executive, however, did not say from whom.

“They [Marcos estate administrators] have not paid,” the tax bureau declared in the report.

“BIR will continue to consolidate the titles in favor of the government on those properties which have been levied upon. The procedure may take time as it involves selling at public auction to convert to cash,” the bureau added.

Earlier, Victor D. Rodriguez, spokesperson of presidential candidate Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. maintained that the heirs of the former chief executive cannot settle yet the family’s unpaid estate tax.

“Our rivals are misdirecting everyone by claiming that the case has attained finality when the truth of the matter is, it is still pending in court,” Rodriguez said in a statement.

In 1997, the Supreme Court affirmed a decision by the Court of Appeals on the Marcos family’s estate tax liability as final and executory.

Retired Supreme Court Justice Antonio T. Carpio estimated that the Marcos heirs’ estate tax had ballooned to P203.8 billion due to interests and penalties after they refused to pay it.

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The article was originally published in Manila Bulletin and written byChino S. Leyco