BOXING hero Manny Pacquiao has apparently learned a new subterranean tactic of dodging the paws of Kim Henares.
It is called tax avoidance, a perfectly legal strategy, and that is why the Pambansang Kamao has slid from being the number 1 taxpayer in 2008?coughing P125 million to the Bureau of Internal Revenue?down to 113 in 2009 after shelling out a more modest P7.4 million.
The smaller tax bite came despite Pacquiao earning a record $34 million (about P1.5 billion) in boxing fees alone for shellacking Ricky Hatton and Miguel Cotto in the same year.
On another note, the top 2009 taxpayer (P59.5 million), public works contractor Elaine Gardiola, donated more than she did in 2008 (P46.45 million), when she was in fourth in the honors list.
The surprise of the year was second placer Rosabelle ?Beng? Bandong, a ?mere? associate film editor with the Roadrunner Network, whose tax due is listed as P57.8 million.
If her total tax bite does represent her total 2009 income, then Bandong?s pay package for the year must be in the vicinity of P170 million! No wonder there was much grumbling at the Manila Standard newsdesk for being in the wrong editing job after reading Bandong’s item.
Other related developments:
? It should warm the cockles of Ramon Ang?s competitive heart that for 2009 the San Miguel president had overtaken Manuel V. Pangilinan; Ang was sixth placer (from 20th in 2008) while the PLDT chairman slid to 20th (from 14th in 2008), taking over Ang’s vacated slot.
? Former SGV vice chairman Roman Felipe Reyes likewise was taxed more than his former boss, then SGV chairman David Balangue. Reyes was ranked 136th, eight notches and P158,000 higher than Balangue.
? Eugenio ?Gabby? Lopez III was assessed for P5.15 million in 2009 as against 2008?s P5.6 million, but the half-million difference was enough for the ABS-CBN president to sink to number 242 from the previous year?s 109.
Maria Ressa, then the network?s news chief, even vaulted past her boss, landing at 173 with P5.9 million. Ditto with ABS-CBN newscaster Julius Babao, who came in at 175 with P5.8 million.
? Mercedes-Benz dealer Felix Ang, who was nowhere in the 2008 list, made it to 2009, squeaking it to the 500th rank with P3.57 million ?tax due.?
Finally, this is embarrassing, but the Top 500 list has been posted in the BIR Web site since late October but the Philippine print and broadcast media, present company included, only got wind of its availability last weekend, having been beaten by at least two blog sites, pinoy exchange and view from ayala, by a good a month and a half!
(Web site: www.cocktales.ph; e-mail: [email protected])
