The only son and namesake of the late dictator Ferdinand E. Marcos had not paid a fine that an appellate court had slapped on him in 1995 for failing to pay his taxes, a lawyer for a group seeking to have him disqualified from the presidential race said on Friday.
Former Senator Ferdinand “Bongbong” R. Marcos, Jr. has yet to comply with the final judgment of the Court of Appeals, lawyer Theodore O. Te said in a Viber group message, citing a Dec. 2 certification issued by Quezon City trial court that originally ruled on the case.
“This is to certify that there is no record on file of compliance of payment or satisfaction of the decision of the regional trial court dated July 27, 1995 or the Court of Appeals dated Oct. 31, 1997,” according to a copy of the certification provided by the lawyer.
Mr. Te had sought the certification from the court.
Mr. Marcos’s Partido Federal ng Pilipinas, which has intervened in his disqualification case at the Commission on Elections, has said he had partially paid P67,137 in fines in 2001.
“The certification simply cements what we have already said in the petition,” he said, referring to their disqualification case against the former lawmaker who is running for president next year. “The respondent has been convicted and the sentence remains unserved.”
The trial court convicted Mr. Marcos in 1995 for failing to pay income taxes in the early 1980s. The appellate court modified the ruling and instead fined Mr. Marcos P2,000 in each of his three failures to file income tax returns for 1982 to 1984. He was also fined P30,000, with interest, for failing to file his tax returns for 1985.
Mr. Te said they would bring the matter to the Commission on Elections, where Mr. Marcos faces several lawsuits seeking his disqualification.
Meanwhile, Davao City Rep. Paolo Z. Duterte, the eldest son of President Rodrigo R. Duterte, said he would support Mr. Marcos’s candidacy.
“From the start, I have given my support to BBM (Bongbong Marcos),” he told reporters in a Viber group message in Filipino.
Mr. Duterte separately told state media he would support his sister, Davao City Mayor Sara Duterte-Carpio who is running for vice-president alongside Mr. Marcos. — Alyssa Nicole O. Tan and Russell Louis C. Ku