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By Robina Asido

If former Senator Ferdinand "Bongbong" Marcos Jr. becomes the president, the unpaid taxes of his family "will be gone forever", retired Supreme Court Associate Justice Antonio Carpio said on Thursday.

"Once he is a president, nobody will file a notice demand letter on him and he has a term of six years and it takes only five year for the prescriptive period to set in, so that is there counter strategy so if he becomes president I'm certain that the 203 billion (pesos) will be gone forever," Carpio said in a virtual forum.

Carpio stressed the need for the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) to file a criminal case against Marcos Jr. and and his mother Imelda Marcos, the co-administrators of the estate of the late dictator President Ferdinand Marcos Sr. as soon as possible.

"I explained that there is a basis to file a criminal case because the tax code says it is the legal obligation of the administrator to pay the tax that is clear under the tax code and the revenue regulation. They are primarily liable to pay the estate tax because they are in control of the assets of the estate," he said.

"Section 255 of the Tax Code says if you are legally obliged to pay the tax and you will fully refuse to pay the tax, you are criminally liable up to 10 years imprisonment and that's why I'm telling the BIR if they want to. Now they can file a criminal case, and I think it's time because for 25 years, almost a quarter of a century they have not paid the tax," said Carpio.

"You cannot collect the tax by just sending a demand letter because 25 years have passed and nothing happened, it's time to enforce it by a criminal case. That's the last step we are now at the last step in 25 years," he added.

Carpio said "it is clear as day, beyond any shadow of doubt that the estate tax liability of the Marcos estate in the principal amount of 23 billion pesos had long become final, executory and appealable."

"This decision can no longer be questioned before any court. No court can overturn this decision now Marcos Jr. and Imelda Marcos are the co-administrators of the estate of Marcos Sr," he said.

"Section 91D of the Tax Code provides and I quote "the estate tax as imposed by section 84 shall be paid by the executor or administrator before delivery to any beneficiary of its distributed share of the estate. The estate tax shall be paid by the administrator. It is the administrator who is obligated by law to pay the estate tax," Carpio added.

During the same forum, former BIR Commissioner Kim Henares also noted that if Marcos becomes the president the criminal case may not be filed during his term.

"If BBM ( Bongbpng Marcos) becomes the president I think for six years because of the presidential immunity, you might not be able to file a criminal case," she said.

Heneras admitted that when she was the commissioner of the BIR they did not file a criminal case against Marcoses and they were not able to take a closer look into the unpaid taxes of Marcos family.

"There is an ongoing process personally I did not think of filing a case, but maybe during the time that I was there I would not file it... most probably would not have filed it as well because we will not be able to do other things but to answer Marcos, instead of focusing on collections maybe we will not be able to do other things which is not out objective," she said.

During the presidential debate hosted by the Commission on Election four of the presidential candidates agreed that the government should collect the 203 billion pesos unpaid tax from the Marcos family.

These presidential aspirants include Vice President Leni Robredo, Senator Panfilo Lacson, Manila Mayor Francisco Domagoso and Leody De Guzman. DMS