QC court: No record of Marcos Jr.'s payment of taxes, penalties

The Quezon City Regional Trial Court Branch 105 has no record of former Senator Ferdinand Marcos Jr. paying taxes and penalties in connection with his failure to file tax returns between 1982 and 1985.

According to Joseph Morong's report on "24 Oras", the court replied to GMA News' email on the matter.

The court said it asked Marcos to submit proof of the fine imposed but until now, he has still no record that he paid the taxes and penalties due

"We have no record of payment of the taxes and penalties due," the court's email read.

Earlier, Pudno Nga Ilokano (Ang Totoong Ilokano) filed the fourth disqualification case against Marcos

In their petition, the group said Marcos was convicted eight times by the QC RTC 105 in 1995 for failure to file his income tax returns as governor of Ilocos Norte for taxable years 1982 to 1985 and for the latter’s failure to pay the corresponding deficiency taxes.

While the decisions were appealed before the Court of Appeals, the petitioners said the appellate court affirmed the judgment of “guilty beyond reasonable doubt” on four convictions.

As rendered by the QC RTC, petitioners said Marcos Jr.’s conviction on four tax cases carries the penalty of three years imprisonment and a payment of P30,000. However, the CA imposed the payment of fine but omitted the imprisonment mandated by law.

The group said Marcos Jr.'s successive convictions on four counts of non-filing of income tax return and non-payment of deficiency income tax, as well as his “continuing failure” to rectify and comply with his obligation before the RTC and CA since the pendency of his case up to this day, “clearly constitutes” a crime involving moral turpitude.

Marcos' spokesperson Atty. Vic Rodriguez said all the petitions filed before the Commission on Elections against his presidential candidacy were being addressed by his legal team.

"And while we maintain that these petitions are nothing but nuisance cases, we urge those who are behind these pathetic stunts to please respect the Filipino people and their democratic right to decide for themselves and their collective future," Rodriguez said.

"We also urge them not to remove the right of the people to freely choose their leader and stop looking down on the intelligence of the Filipino people," he added.

So far, at least seven petitions were filed before the Comelec which are either seeking to cancel Marcos' certificate of candidacy or to disqualify him from the race. -Ma. Angelica Garcia/NB, GMA News