The commitment of Manila Mayor Francisco “Isko Moreno” Domagoso to go after after the P203-billion estate tax obligation of the Marcos family was backed by fellow presidential candidates Vice President Leni Robredo, Senator Panfilp Lacson, and Leodegario “Ka Leody” De Guzman.
During the Commission on Elections’ (Comelec) Pilipinas Debate 2022 on Saturday, March 19, Domagoso reiterated that he will run after the unnamed candidate’s family’s P203-billion estate tax debt, and use the money to help poor Filipinos.
While Domagoso did not mention the name of “Marcos”, he had previously referred to the family of survey frontrunner Ferdinand "Bongbong" Marcos as owing the government billions of pesos in taxes.
“’Yung isang pamilyang may utang na P203-billion na estate tax sisiguraduhin natin sisingilin ko 'yon (The one family that owes P203-billion estate tax, I will make sure to collect on it),” he said.
“Kung masisingil ko ‘yung P203 billion na estate tax ng isang pamilya, at iatras ko ang buwis ng krudo at kuryenta at 50 percent, we are going to lose P65 billion. Daan daan bilyon pa ang pwede nating majibigay sa sa tao (If I can collect on the P203-billion estate tax of that family, and I withdraw the tax on fuel and electricity by 50 percent, we are going to lose P65 billion. There will still be hundreds of billions that we can give to people),” he pointed out.
Robredo and Lacson both supported Domagoso's statement on how the tax debt of the Marcos family could benefit the Filipinos people, especially those in need.
“Tama yun. Alam niyo 'yung mga pinasa naming tax packages marami 'yun eh. Eh meron P203 billion na sisingilin na andiyan na, bakit ayaw singilin ng BIR (That's right. You know, there are a lot of tax packages we passed. The P203 billion is already there and just has to be collected, why does the BIR not collect it)?,” said Lacson.
Robredo, for her part, said: Kasi ngayon pinag-aawayan, ayaw nating i-suspend ang excise tax kahit napataas ng langis dahil wala tayong pera... Ito P230 biillion, pag nasingil natin ito, hindi natin kailangan tipirin ang ating mga kababayan (Because now we are fighting, we don't want to suspend the excise tax even if the oil goes up because we don't have money ... This P230 billion, if we collect it, we don't have to scrimp for our countrymen),” he said
De Guzman also backed Domagoso, saying: "Sang ayon ako pare, kailangan natin kunin ‘yung P203 billion (I agree , we need to get the P203 billion)."