President Aquino on Tuesday explained he was not in a position to grant amnesty to Manny Pacquiao, whose bank assets have been frozen over a question of misdeclared taxes.
The President, sounding wholly sure about Pacquiao’s culpability, suggested the boxing superhero could have at least manifested some degree of remorse.
Boxing promoter Bob Arum, however, swore there was no need for either amnesty or pardon as Pacquiao has faithfully fulfilled his tax obligations in the United States.
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Of course, Arum’s repeated assurance and clarification have been stoically refuted by Bureau of Internal Revenue Commissioner Kim Henares, who stuck to her guns in stressing Pacquiao has been delinquent in his tax obligations.
Pacquiao predictably protested the garnishment (of his assets), at the same time assuring people that his lawyers were capable of clearing his name.
Pressed harder, Pacquiao said Arum could readily clear up the mess although the Hall-of-Fame matchmaker continued to be besieged by Commissioner Henares to send certified true copies—not mere facsimiles—of Pacquiao’s tax remittances in the United States.
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At first blast, they called it a bout between Pacquiao and the Taxman.
But, as could only be expected, the case readily deteriorated into an acceptability and popularity battle between President P-Noy and Pacquiao, the boxing superhero popularly regarded as a national treasure.
Call it pure coincidence, but Pacquiao, short of scoring a knockout, pulled away when he fulfilled his vow to visit the areas devastated by Supertyphoon “Yolanda” after his fight in Macau to distribute food items, cash, copies of the Holy Bible, in the process knocking back hope into the lives—the heart and soul—of the countless victims displaced by the superstorm.
After that heartwarming sortie by Pacquiao, fully covered by national media, there was not a single sincere soul out in the streets who would not cry Pacquiao has been a victim of political harassment.
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Was this the reason P-Noy had to be comforted by a select group of Filipino newshens—the President was gloriously labeled Man of Steel—in a special Bulong Pulungan session at the Sofitel on Tuesday?
Indeed, P-Noy’s popularity continued to get a severe beating although there should be some solace at the end of today’s scheduled tax appeal hearing for Pacquiao.
With her adamant stand, Commissioner Henares and her lawyers were favored to score for the government using their available records of Pacquiao’s alleged delinquency.
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Pacquiao, his back on the ropes, could, however, essay a mesmerizing comeback, a follow-up to the monumental victory he scored against Brandon Rios in Macau on Nov. 24.
As we went to press, a report by the ABS-CBN North American News Bureau said promoter Arum has mailed complete “certified true copies of Pacquiao’s tax remittances, as provided by the US Internal Revenue Service (IRS),” to Pacquiao’s lawyers.
Cried Arum: “What they’re doing to Manny is absolutely outrageous, it’s politics at its worst.”
Arum invited Commissioner Henares to “send her agents to the USA to look and audit all of Pacquiao’s earnings with Top Rank.”