This should put the issue to rest but given that it is still the campaign period, those who are anti-Marcos will continue to insist that THEIR OPINION is correct and Andy Bautista’s is wrong.
The P23B estate tax claim by the BIR is based on its assessment of what it deemed to be as the Marcos’ assets when the assessment was made in 1993. The Supreme Court ruled on the appeal filed by the Marcos’ with finality in 1997 and that should be the basis of the amount to be paid by the Marcos family with the additional penalties and interest accruing annually based on the provisions of the National Internal Revenue Code as amended.
On the issue of whether only legitimate assets are the subject of an estate tax assessment, Bautista claims that insofar as the BIR is concerned, both legal and illegal assets are subject to estate tax. Pinky Webb did not ask the proper follow-up question as to what the basis of ownership is per BIR revenue regulations or as provided for the NIRC.
Bautista reveals that he was instructed to meet with the Marcos siblings upon advise of then Executive Secretary Paquito Ochoa Jr. This is probably the offshoot of the fact that Liza Araneta Marcos is a partner of the Marcos, Ochoa, Serapio and Tan Law Office.
According to Bautista, he asked the siblings to make an offer of settlement to the Philippine Government so that he could relay the same to the Executive Secretary, who would, in turn, relay it to then President Benigno Aquino III. Per Bautista, the Marcos siblings never got back to him.
Bautista confirms that there no deadline for filing an Estate Tax Return given that decedents normally have conflicts amongst themselves when it comes to the division of the estate, which is specially true in intestate succession. In the case of the Marcos’, the last will and testatament of Ferdinand Marcos Sr. was filed for probate at the Pasig Regional Trial Court.
Bottomline, it can take one hundred years and the cases filed by the PCGG against the Marcos’ could still be in courts and the true extent of their wealth, legal or ill-gotten, can be confirmed. What works to the best interest of the Filipino people is a negotiated settlement between the Marcos family and the Philippine government.
If elected President, it is within the power of Marcos to abolish the PCGG, whose creation was only through an Executive Order. However, the Legislative can enact a law re-establishing the PCGG if such a bill were to be filed and passed by the House and the Senate.
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