To the relief of some political observers, incoming Bureau of Internal Revenue chief Lilia Guillermo said she will collect the real estate taxes the Marcos Family still owes the government, a whopping P200 billion.
"Please give me time to look at the documents. How much are we talking about? I don't know if it's really 200-billion. If that is really the amount, imagine, it will really help collections of BIR," she said in a news report.
At least she is acknowledging that the family of the incoming president does owe money to the government, unlike two lawmakers who have denied the existence of the debt, calling it a “political issue”.
These two “honorables” can check the records of the BIR as well as the final and unappealable judgment of the Supreme Court; money is owed and nothing they can say can make it go away.
But part of Guillermo’s statement is also raising some red flags with some people. Has it not already been established how much the Marcos Family owes, given how long they sat on this tax obligation? Is this a move to somehow “adjust” the amount so as not to hurt the pockets of the Marcos Family to deeply?
Of course, this is all just conjecture for now. Let’s give Guillermo the benefit of the doubt; she has yet to start her job after all.
Guillermo is in quite a hard position; she has to account for the debts of the man who appointed her to that post, a sizable chunk that can have a possible impact on their wealth. However, she has to remember that even as she owes some gratitude to the man who put her there, she has a bigger responsibility to the public she has to serve.
But what is clear is that if she becomes remiss in collecting an amount so big, an amount that has been withheld from the government for so long --perhaps because the debtors were hoping for a friendly administration to finally sit in power, or until they themselves were back in power-- it will give other people an excuse to be remiss in paying their own taxes.