News Roundup 26 May 2022
May 26, 2022 • 4 min Read
Bongbong Marcos pitches for proper collection of taxes, tariffs | INQUIRER.NET – President-elect Ferdinand Marcos Jr. on Thursday made a pitch for proper collection of taxes and tariffs, saying the economy will languish if the government’s tax collection agencies won’t step up its revenue system. Speaking in a sit-down interview where only a few select media were present, Marcos said the Bureau of Customs (BOC) and the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) must ensure the proper collection of taxes and duties in order to balance the demand for funds to bankroll government programs. “The economy of the Philippines will simply not succeed, we cannot collect duties, tariffs, etc through the BOC and we do not have good collection on taxes both on the national and local level. Hindi talaga uubra. The numbers don’t match,” he said. “So that’s why it’s very, very important and we have to at the very least reduce the corrosive influence of corruption in government as a general rule,” he added. Marcos’ family has been dogged by issues of nonpayment of their P203 billion estate tax liability, as well as his own failure to file his income tax returns while governor of Ilocos Norte from 1982 to 1985. During the interview, the President-elect has also refused to discuss past issues of corruption. “Ah corruption? Kalimutan na lang natin ‘yung nakaraan. Sasabihin natin, ‘Ah sige that’s not under my watch, hindi ako, hindi ako namamahala noon eh. Ngayon ako na namamahala, so wala nang ganyan.” (Corruption. Let’s just forget about the past. I’ll say, ‘That’s not under my administration. Now that it’s my administration, corruption will have no place.’) But he clarified that they will go after erring officials. “Kung mayroon pang ganyan eh hahabul-habulin talaga namin kayo, hindi p’wede ‘yan because we will not succeed,” he added. (If there are still corrupt individuals, we will go after them because we won’t succeed.)
Incoming press chief Trixie Angeles brushes off old social med posts vs Imelda Marcos | INQUIRER.NET – Designated press secretary Trixie Cruz-Angeles on Thursday brushed off the revival of her previous social media posts against Imelda Marcos, mother of President-elect Ferdinand Marcos Jr. who she would soon serve as member of his Cabinet. During a briefing with the media, the lawyer and vlogger was asked about her old tweets that sought the arrest and detention of the Marcos matriarch which has been going around social media anew following the announcement of her appointment. “Aren’t people entitled to change their minds? I think we are ‘di ba,” Angeles responded. “I think that evolution is a natural thing, even among our consciousness,” she added. Angeles said she has talked about her change of mind in her vlog. “Actually we’ve talked about it, as you know I am a vlogger, and we have talked about it extensively on the vlog, as you know we have conducted several lives about it, and I’ve told my story about how and when I changed my mind about it,” she explained. “So that’s it, that’s pretty much it, I’m sure you can see them,” she further said. In February 2013, Angeles tweeted about attainment of true justice “when we see at least Imelda Marcos in jail.”
Marcos aide: No intention to exclude anyone from exclusive interview | PHILSTAR.COM – President-elect Ferdinand Marcos Jr.’s chief-of-staff said Thursday that they had not intended to exclude news outlets from his first press interview after his proclamation that included just three TV networks. Lawyer Vic Rodriguez, who has been designated by Marcos as his executive secretary, explained in a separate briefing that GMA, NET25 and SMNI had asked during the campaign for one-on-one interviews with the president-elect should he win the race. NET25 is owned by Christian sect Iglesia ni Cristo, whose leadership told their flock to vote for Marcos and for Vice President-elect Sara Duterte. SMNI, meanwhile, is owned by fugitive preacher Apollo Quiboloy, who also endorsed Marcos and Duterte. “This was the commitment given by our media team during the campaign to these three networks,” Rodriguez said in Filipino. “It doesn’t mean that we intend or we intended to exclude anyone.” Rodriguez said the interview was with three networks instead of one-on-one as they “wanted to be fair.” During the briefing, Marcos announced a barrage of appointments to his incoming Cabinet and addressed some issues involving fiscal policy and foreign affairs. He was not asked about his family’s ill-gotten wealth, human rights violations under his father’s brutal martial rule, pending court cases involving their family and their unpaid P203 billion in estate taxes
