IN one fell swoop, the camp of presidential aspirant Ferdinand ‘Bongbong’ Marcos Jr. on Wednesday (December 22) quashed the claims by those opposing his candidacy that he has not paid the taxes and fines in his tax case, by showing documents and certification from the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) that proved otherwise.

In a press briefing, Marcos’ lawyers, through spokesman Atty. Vic Rodriguez dropped a bombshell when he presented a BIR certification issued last December 9, 2021, indicating among others that BBM made full payment of taxes and fines in his tax case.

The document signed by Arsenio Tomeldan of the Collection Section of BIR Region No.7B-East NCR of Revenue District Office No.42-San Juan, specifically indicated that Marcos paid the amount that covers the computation of deficiency income taxes and fines covering the taxable years for 1982, 1983, 1984, and 1985 at the Land Bank of the Philippines.

The total deficiency taxes and penalties paid in 2001 amounted to a total of P67,137.27, the exact amount stipulated in the 1997 Court of Appeals (CA) decision.

Collection Section Chief Adelfa L. Mateo, attested the certification which was noted and signed by Revenue District Officer Thelma D. Mangio.

“This certification from the BIR is an undeniable proof that former Senator Ferdinand ‘Bongbong’ Marcos, Jr. complied with the payment of deficient taxes and fines as ordered in the 1997 CA ruling,” Rodriguez said.

“This invalidates the ‘mother of all lies’ being propagated by some petitioners bent on derailing his presidential bid in the 2022 elections,” he added.

Rodriguez was referring to the petition lodged by a group represented by former Supreme Court (SC) spokesperson Theodore Te and other groups seeking Marcos Jr.’s removal from the list of official candidates from the ballots for the 2022 national elections.

Rodriguez said the petitions are nothing but ‘nuisance’ petitions before the Commission on Elections (Comelec) attempting to deny due course or cancel Marcos’s certificate of candidacy (CoC).

To recall, Te and the other petitioners proffered a certification from the Quezon City -RTC, stating that it has no record on file showing Marcos’s payment of the taxes and fines for the 1995 RTC and 1997 CA decisions.

Rodriguez, however, argued that since the QC ruling did not specifically indicated in its decision where to pay the fine, Marcos opted to comply with the ruling by paying at the BIR which is the office mandated to collect taxes paid by taxpayers.

“We hope that with this certification, all issues arising from his alleged non-payment of taxes will be finally put to rest, and that we can now all celebrate Christmas with peace of mind,” the lawyer continued.

“Former Senator Marcos’s call for unity extends even to the groups who filed the petitions seeking his disqualification. The UniTeam sees it as the only way to move past this pandemic and uplift our people. We hope that they join us in this endeavor,” Rodriguez stressed.