Duterte vows to collect “unpaid” taxes of Prieto-owned company

April 6, 2017

President Rodrigo Duterte said on Thursday the Philippine Daily Inquirer's owner who also controls the company which has the exclusive franchise of global brand Dunkin' Donuts should pay taxes, which run in billions of pesos. "That's why on Monday, I will, not only Inquirer, I will give them deadline (to pay taxes)," Duterte told reporters in an interview in Palawan. "I need money to run this country. I need money to build houses," Duterte said. The Prieto family, the owner of Inquirer, has the control also over Golden Donuts Inc., the franchisee of Dunkin' Donuts. Duterte has been criticizing Inquirer, as well as ABS-CBN television network, for coming out with what he called as "garbage" news. He said Golden Donuts Inc failed to pay correct taxes because it was "fixed" by former Bureau of Internal Revenue Commissioner Kim Henares. He said the oligarchs "control the airwaves." "They are the ones feeding garbage news," Duterte added. In the case of ABS-CBN, Duterte criticized the TV network for reporting the allegation of opposition Senator Antonio Trillanes he has P211 million ill-gotten wealth in a bank account, which he denied. He also accused the TV station of not returning to him his payment for his supposed campaign advertisement for the May 2016 elections even if it was not aired, while showing Trillanes' ad against him despite a temporary restraining order issued by the court. ABS-CBN chairman Eugenio Lopez III, talking to reporters after the company’s stockholders meeting, said Duterte’s recent comments about the network are" part and parcel of our work being a media institution. Suffice it say, the way we will deal with these problems are not in the public eye but privately." (Celerina Monte/DMS)