(Bloomberg) -- The Philippines’ incoming tax agency chief said she will collect the estate tax due from the family of President-elect Ferdinand Marcos Jr., taking on an issue that has hounded the next leader.

If the amount “is final and executory,” the Bureau of Internal Revenue will implement the court’s order and carry out the agency’s mandate to collect, tax chief-designate Lilia Guillermo said in an interview with ABS-CBN News Channel Wednesday. Guillermo said she needs to see the documents on the Marcos estate’s tax liabilities to have the right information on the amount to be collected.

Marcos’s camp said during his presidential campaign that the issue “is still pending in court” and that the fair tax base for computing the liability arising from the late dictator’s estate can’t be ascertained. A Supreme Court document however showed the estate tax ruling became final in 1999, ABS-CBN reported.

Billions at Stake for Marcos Jr. in Vote Over Dictator’s Legacy

Guillermo, a central bank assistant governor who will assume her new post on June 30, said she will tell Marcos if he can be a “role model” by complying with the tax law, and that there’s “no doubt” that the agency under her watch will collect the amount due. Past tax chiefs have tried to collect the liabilities, with the latest written demand sent to the Marcos heirs in December.

Marcos’s incoming government is facing the challenge of raising revenues to pay debt that ballooned to a record during the pandemic. The tax agency will prioritize digitalization to boost collection, Guillermo said.

(Adds more comments from incoming tax chief.)

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