Presidential candidate and Manila Mayor Francisco "Isko Moreno" Domagoso said on Wednesday, March 23, that 59.7 million Filipinos can be fed daily for 12 months if the Bureau of Internal Revenue would be able to collect the P203 billion estate tax from the Marcos family.
“Kanina kung mapapansin ninyo binigyan ko ng simple computation na kapag nasingil natin ‘yung P203 billion makapag-papakain tayo, araw-araw ah, this is literally araw-araw ng tao, 59 million na tao. Kumakain ang isang Pilipino ng dalawang sakong bigas sa isang taon. So, ibig sabihin maitatawid natin, maiibsan natin ‘yung hirap na dinaranas ng tao sa mahal ng bilihin kapag ito’y ibinigay na sa pamahalaan (Earlier I gave a simple computation that when we collect the P203 billion we can feed 59 million people every day. Each Filipino can eat two sacks of rice in one year. So, it means we can help, we can alleviate the hardship that people experience with expensive goods once it is given to the government),” he said in an ambush interview.
“Basta ako susundin ko lang ‘yung batas kasi ‘yun ay final and executory sabi ng Korte Suprema. Kukunin ko lang ‘yun, tutupdin ko lang ang batas, ‘yung aking tungkulin ipapamahagi naman natin sa tao nang mapakinabangan naman ng taong bayan (I will just follow the law because it is final and executory according to the Supreme Court. I'll just take that, I'll just fulfill the law, my duty, we'll distribute it for the benefit of the people),” the Manila city mayor said.
Moreno also said that Marcos Jr. should not evade questions about the estate tax since he is running for the highest position of the land.
“Well, I don’t know why. Sa totoo lang, madali naman ‘yun eh kasi minana mo lang eh. Siguro hindi naman masama na bawasan mo ‘yung minana mo na hindi mo naman pinag-hirapan lalo na kung tayo ay maglilingkod sa bayan at isa sa obligasyon ng estado ay makapaningil ng buwis sa mamamayan tulad ng natanong ko kanina (Honestly, it's easy because you just inherited it. Maybe it's not bad for you to take even just a little of what you’ve inherited, especially if we are going to serve the people, and one of the state's obligations is to collect taxes from the people,” he said.
“Eh kung ‘yung ordinaryong tao nagbabayad ng buwis ay siguro kaming naga-aspire lalo na sa presidency, siguro maganda maging ehemplo kami ng pagbabayad ng buwis (The ordinary people are paying taxes, so maybe we, who are aspiring for the presidency, should set an example in terms of paying taxes," Domagoso said.
The Manila mayor earlier said he will run after the P203 billion Marcos estate tax liabilities, and use the proceeds from the tax debts as additional “ayuda” for Filipino families, especially those badly affected by the Covid-19 pandemic.