NEW YORK -- Mayor Edward Koch has ordered an investigation to determine whether Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos owns a posh townhouse that owes the city nearly $1 million in taxes, the New York Daily News reported today.
Koch threatened to seize the building if Marcos owns it.
'We in the city have the right to foreclose on property on which taxes are not paid,' Koch warned. He told the Daily News that city Finance Commissioner Paul Crotty would examine the case and issue a statement later today.
Marcos' lavish lifestyle and reputed investment of millions of dollars in American real estate has become a major issue in his bitter re-election campaign, which ends with balloting on Friday.
Rep. Stephen Solarz, D-N.Y., a Marcos critic, claims the Philippine government owns about $350 million in New York real estate. The News reported Sunday that Marcos and his wife Imelda own the townhouse at 13-15 E. 66th St.
But a Philippine government spokesman told the newspaper the townhouse is an official 'guesthouse.' The U.S. State Department said it had no listing of any government establishment at that address.
The townhouse at one time housed the Philippine Consulate in New York. But the consulate was relocated to 556 Fifth Avenue several years ago, the Daily News said.
Under federal law, the building should have reverted to the tax rolls as taxable private property, the newspaper said. According to the Daily News, Marcos owes $996,000 in back taxes to New York City.
A spokesman for the Finance Administration told the Daily News the Philippine government had never filed for a tax waiver or exemption and Filipino officials had yet to answer city tax notices.
An exemption would only be given of a city inspector was permitted to inspect the building and determined it was being used for legitimate diplomatic purposes, the News said.
Workmen who have seen the townhouse told the Daily News it was decorated in high-style. Marcos' wife was said to be storing millions of dollars worth of art, furniture and antiques there, the newspaper reported.
