Manila Mayor Francisco “Isko Moreno” Domagoso’s party has been accused by a rival camp of running a “negative and hateful campaign” for the upcoming Philippine Presidential elections.
Atty. Victor Rodriguez, spokesperson for the Philippine presidential candidate Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr., made the statement after Aksyon Demokratiko Chairman Ernest Ramel Jr. wrote a letter to Presidential Commission on Good Government (PCGG) Chairman John Agbayani inquiring whether PCGG and the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) had an agreement over the PhP203-billion unpaid estate taxes.
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Rodriguez said in the statement that the penchant for “issuing [a] reckless statement by Aksyon Demokratiko on the pretext of knowing the factual antecedents of the matter and having in their possession document or at the very least, a supporting paper to back their claim when there is none should be abhorred.”
The statement added that after miserably failing to ” present any basis to anchor on their claim, it has become very clear that the only motivation is to further their negative and hateful campaigning against presidential candidate Bongbong Marcos without any regard for decency and responsibility.”
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Ramel said in his previous letter to the BIR that even after the late president Ferdinand Marcos Sr. died in 1989, his widow Imelda, only son Bongbong, and daughters Imee and Irene did not file the estate tax return with the BIR. The letter further noted that this was required by the law and “neither did they pay any estate tax.”
Bongbong was convicted in 1995 for failure to file income tax returns from 1982 to 1985 as governor and vice governor of Ilocos Norte, but the Commission on Elections dismissed the majority of the petitions challenging Marcos’ bid over his tax liabilities.
Marcos is running for president in the May national polls and his running mate is Davao City Mayor Sara Duterte-Carpio, daughter of President Rodrigo Duterte.
