Some sectors are hailing Manny Pacquiao as a model taxpayer for his decision to go back to the United States to face the music, so to speak, concerning the failure of his handlers to pay taxes for all his fights in that country.
Whoa there, Manny Pacquiao may be our hero when it comes to boxing, but let us not get too carried away by extending the adulation to everything about him. Let us put things in their proper perspective.
Manny has every reason to go back to the United States to try and talk with the IRS. The United States is where his bread and butter is. Without the United States, his boxing career is not worth even a fourth of what it currently is.
In other words Manny has no choice but to go back to the US to face the IRS. While we do not want to cast aspersions on the integrity of our hero, we still dare say he probably would not feel as compelled to settle the issue had it involved some other country like, say, Thailand.
True, because of his educational limitations, Manny may not have the necessary acumen to manage, or at least be fully aware, of his business affairs. He could have been an easy prey for the cunning bloodsuckers that he allowed himself to be surrounded with.
But we refuse to believe Manny himself is absolutely naive that he could be completely unaware of what is going on around him. He may not have gone into the nitty-gritty of things but surely he must have some skimming knowledge of everything.
For one thing, we have noticed in virtually all of his megabuck fights in the United States that there was never any instance where the matter of his purse had been clear-cut. There was always a seemingly deliberate attempt to make his pay the subject of speculation.
We do not see any other reason for this other than that it was part of a deliberate attempt to confuse those who have a legal interest in knowing what that purse might be, not just the IRS of the United States but the BIR of the Philippines as well.
Now we can concede that Manny had no part in hatching such deviousness but we cannot accept that he had absolutely no knowledge of the subterfuge. After all, the whole thing involved his money, lots of it, and what may or may not happen to it.
So come on, don’t say Manny never had an inkling of what was being done to ” preserve and protect ” his earnings. All one had to do was whisper: ” Just watch Manny. Don’t say anything. Let us do all the talking. We will take care of everything. This is for your own good.”
Now place yourself in Manny’s shoes, wouldn’t that be enough to buy your silence? The big question now is not so much as what happens with Manny and the IRS as what lies in store for Manny as far as the Philippines and the BIR is concerned. Can heroism be reason to condone taxes?
