MANILA, Philippines – Presidential candidate and Manila Mayor Isko Moreno took a swipe at presidential race front-runner Ferdinand Marcos Jr., panning the latter’s decision to skip the upcoming Commission on Elections (Comelec) debate.

During a media interview while campaigning in Kabankalan City in Negros Occidental, Moreno, without mentioning Marcos by name, took issue with a candidate’s common refrain of “unity” or “pagkakaisa” while deciding to skip debates where they would have been able to explain their platform to Filipinos.

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“Maganda ang pagkakaisa…. I do believe in pagkakaisa pero ang salitang pagkakaisa, hindi makaka-resolba ng gutom ng tao,” said Moreno on Thursday, March 17.

(Unity is nice…. I believe in unity but the word unity can’t resolve the hunger of the people.)

“Kapag wala nang masasaing ang tao, hindi mo kayang isaing ang pagkakaisa. ‘Pag wala nang ulam ang tao hindi mo maiuulam ang pagkakaisa,” continued the 47-year-old presidential bet.

(When the people have nothing to cook, you can’t cook unity. When the people have no more viands to eat, you can’t turn unity into a viand.)

‘Don’t vote for debate-skipper’

Moreno was also asked what he, as a voter and not a candidate, would think of a presidential bet who refuses to join debates like that of Comelec’s on Saturday, March 19.

“Hindi ko iboboto (I won’t vote for them),” said the Manila chief.

“Puwede mo lang ba basahin ‘yung papel, hindi mo ba siya tatanungin, totoo ba itong sinasabi mo na ito skills mo? Kung ako botante, hindi kita iboboto. Tapos pagka may mga kaso ka pa tapos napatunayan may sala ka, kailangan patunayan mo, nagbagong buhay ka na ba?” he continued.

(Will you just read their resume, you won’t ask, is it true that these are your skills? If I’m the voter, I won’t vote for you. Then if you have cases and you were proven guilty, you need to prove, have you changed?)

Moreno’s party, Aksyon Demokratiko, has demanded that the Marcos family pay the P203 billion worth of estate tax deficiency to the government which could be a big boost to funds earmarked for helping struggling Filipinos.

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Isko Moreno camp: ‘Duwag si Ferdinand Marcos Jr.’

The party was able to get responses from both the Presidential Commission on Good Government (PCGG) and the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) proving the funds are yet to be paid. The Marcos camp has said the non-payment is supposedly due to an agreement between the family and government not to collect the money yet, due to legal issues.

PCGG, in a March 11 letter to Aksyon, said while there is indeed a “2003 verbal understanding” between BIR and PCGG not to collect the funds yet, the hold-up was not because the government was still determining the “fair and just tax base” to be used in computing estate taxes, as claimed by the Marcos camp.

“As early as 1993, BIR already executed its final assessment when it levied and sold 11 properties in Tacloban City, and as early as 1997, the judgment on the tax case has become final and executory,” wrote the PCGG, in a letter signed by its chairman John Agbayani.

BIR chief Caesar Dulay, meanwhile, had told Aksyon that the bureau did send a written demand to the Marcos heirs last December 2, 2021 about those tax liabilities. – Rappler.com