Carpio: Marcos Jr. has not served his sentence under 1997 CA decision

Presidential aspirant and former senator Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. has not served his sentence ordered by the Court of Appeals (CA) decision yet, 1Sambayan lead convenor and retired Supreme Court (SC) senior associate justice Antonio Carpio said Thursday.

During the 1Sambayan TAPATan media forum, Carpio said Marcos remains a “convict” as he has not paid the fines and surcharges that were stipulated under the 1997 CA decision.

“Up to this day BBM has not served his sentence under the CA decision which had become final on August 8, 2001. [Marcos] remains a convict up to this day because he has not served his sentence,” Carpio said.

This means Marcos’ disqualification under Section 12 of the Omnibus Election Code “has not been lifted" and Marcos' separate and independent "perpetual disqualification" under the Tax Code, which was effective August 8, 2001, "remains in effect and can only be lifted by a Presidential pardon and none has been issued to him."

“At present, [Marcos] is a certified convict who is disqualified to run for President of the Philippines, to vote and to participate in any election in our country,” he argued.

Under the CA decision dated October 31, 1997, Carpio said Marcos was ordered to “pay to the [Bureau of Internal Revenue] the deficiency income taxes” and “to pay a fine of P2,000.00 for each charge...for failure to file income tax return for 1982, 1983 and 1984; and a fine of P30,000.00... for failure to file income tax return for 1985, with surcharges.”

He noted that the CA decision had become final and executory on August 8, 2001 when the SC granted Marcos’ withdrawal of his appeal to the high court.

Carpio cited anew Section 12 of the Omnibus Election Code, which provides that any person convicted of a crime involving moral turpitude shall be disqualified to be a candidate and to hold any public office.

This disqualification could only be removed after the expiration of a period of five years from his service of sentence or if the penalty is only payment of reparation and fine, the convict is “deemed to have served his sentence upon full payment of the reparation and fine," he said.

Apart from this law, Carpio also cited Section 253 of the Tax Code, which provides that a public officer shall be perpetually disqualified from holding any public office, to vote and participate in any election if he is convicted of any crime penalized by the same code.

As the law says “any crime,” Carpio said it is immaterial whether the crime committed involved moral turpitude and it is also immaterial if the rest of the sentence has been served, explaining that the disqualification takes effect immediately upon the finality of the judgment.

“The ‘perpetual disqualification’ under Section 253 takes effect immediately upon finality of the judgment of conviction, which in [Marcos’] case took place on August 8, 2001 when the Supreme Court granted [Marcos’] withdrawal of his appeal,” the former magistrate said.

“In short, starting August 8, 2001, [Marcos] was already perpetually disqualified from holding any public office, from voting and from participating in any election,” he added.

This also means when Marcos ran for a congressional seat in 2007 and Senator in 2010, he was actually disqualified from running and from sitting as a lawmaker, Carpio noted.

Furthermore, the former SC justice noted that in Marcos’ answer to one of the petitions lodged against him before the Comelec dated November 19, 2021, the presidential aspirant claimed that the CA decision ordering him to pay the deficiency income tax was “unclear.”

But in Marcos’ memorandum dated December 20, 2021 filed before the Comelec, Marcos “for the first time” stated that he had "paid the deficiency taxes and fines on 27 December 2001." Carpio, however, emphasized that Marcos did not attach the proof of his payment.

“Nevertheless, [Marcos] did not attach any receipt or proof of payment and he did not formally offer in evidence any document to establish that he had 'paid the deficiency taxes and fines on 27 December 2001.' In short, [Marcos] just claimed that he had paid the Philippine Government but did not show to the Comelec any proof of payment,” he said.

On the contrary, Carpio said petitioners were able to present two certifications issued by two clerks of court of the Quezon City Regional Trial Court, which indicated that there were no records of compliance or payment on Marcos’ tax cases.

“These official certifications are binding on the Comelec. These certifications establish that [Marcos] did not pay the fines and surcharges that were payable to the trial court by virtue of the final CA decision,” Carpio said.

While Marcos’ camp earlier showed the media copies of proof of payments to the BIR, Carpio said the fines under the court decision are payable to Branch 108 of the Quezon City Regional Trial Court, and not to the BIR.

He explained that only the deficiency income tax could be paid to the BIR.

Responding to Carpio’s statements, lawyer Vic Rodriguez, Marcos' chief of staff and spokesperson said the presidential aspirant and his running-mate, Davao City Mayor Sara Duterte, is working to reach out the victims of Typhoon Odette as well as the frontliners who are dealing with the latest surge in COVID-19 cases.

“We have answered many, many, many times the similar poorly scripted and laughable political antic of our opponents and the continuing caper of ret. Justice Antonio Carpio to deceive the electorate is not only uncalled for but does not deserve our time nor merit the Filipino people’s attention,” he said in a Viber message to GMA News Online.

So far, the Comelec junked two petitions against Marcos’ candidacy—the one filed by Tiburcio Marcos and the other filed by Danilo Lihaylihay.

Comelec spokesperson James Jimenez recently said there is one petition to cancel Marcos’ certificate of candidacy for president and four disqualification cases against the former senator which are still pending with the Comelec. — BM, GMA News