The camp of Ferdinand "Bongbong" Marcos Jr. on Wednesday, Dec. 22, insisted that the presidential aspirant, whose candidacy is being hounded by a tax-related case, indeed paid his tax deficiencies and fines.
The Marcos campaign headquarters has presented in a press conference the certificate coming from the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) to back its claim.
Lawyer Vic Rodriguez, Marcos' spokesman, said the certification, issued on Dec. 9, 2021 by BIR Region No. 7B-East NCR, will quash the "mother of lies" of those who filed disqualification petitions against the presidential aspirant.
The certificate, which was verified, prepared and signed by Arsenio Tomeldan from BIR's Quality Assurance - Collection Section, apparently refutes a Quezon City RTC Branch 105 document which stated that Marcos did not satisfy its order for him to settle his tax deficiencies and pay the appropriate fine as punishment.
According to the BIR's certification, a total of P67,137 deficiency taxes and penalties had been paid by Marcos Jr. in 2001. The amount was the same with what was stipulated in a Court of Appeals (CA) decision.
"Sinagot na ng BIR (The BIR already answered) . There is no greater authority pagdating sa usapin ng (when it comes to) income tax return at payment of taxes than BIR," Rodriguez told reporters when asked why there was no court record of Marcos Jr. 's tax deficiencies payment.
"Tell me what agency or authority that is more superior than the Bureau of Internal Revenue when it comes to enforcement of tax?" he added, asserting that BIR's certification was more credible than that of a Quezon City court, which was used by petitioners as evidence against Marcos Jr. tax-related case.
According to Rodriguez, they did not immediately release the proof that Marcos Jr. paid his tax dues "because those who are filing charges against him should be the one to provide evidence" of their accusation.
"Ito na po yung hinihintay nating lahat na pruweba matagal na ho sa amin ito, subalit purposely hindi namin ipakita dahil naghahanap ng evidence yung mga petitioners (This is the proof that we've been waiting for a long time. It's been with us for some time now but we purposely kept it because the petitioners were looking for evidence against us)," he added.
" has been paid. We owe nothing to the government. Walang basehan (There is no basis for the accusation)," Rodriguez said.