MANNY Pacquiao said he owes nothing to the government.
Kim Henares said Pacquiao has not paid P2.2 billion in taxes from boxing earnings in 2008-2009.
Bob Arum said Pacquiao paid said taxes in the US.
?You can?t be made to pay double taxes,? said Arum, the Harvard-educated lawyer and Pacquiao?s American promoter since 2006.
But Henares, the country?s chief tax collector, said she has no proof of Pacquiao?s payments in the US.
?It?s been almost two years since we asked Pacquiao to submit his documents,? said Henares.
Saying she?s run out of patience, Henares has garnished Pacquiao?s one bank account of P1.1 million and imposed lien on the boxer?s plush mansion at Forbes Park in Makati.
Mommy Dionesia, Pacquiao?s TV celebrity mother, has joined the fray, accusing Henares of calling her a ?tax evader.?
?Why did she accuse me of being a tax evader when I am unemployed?? she said in Tagalog.
Echoing her son?s public statement, PacMom D said: ?Every cent earned by my son was from the blood, sweat and tears that he endured while fighting.?
There is drama of epic proportion, with twists and turns, multiple sub-plots even, adding to the jumble of unresolved conclusions.
Will Pacquiao stand his ground and not pay a single centavo from the P2.2 billion Henares said the PacMan owed government?
It?s funny, if not downright crazy, that a sporting world icon, the darling of the boxing universe, and a congressman at that, is facing a tax-evasion charge.
Is there really politics in it?
The supposed unpaid taxes were collectible in 2008 and 2009, when Ate Glow was still president.
But then, Pacquiao and Ate Glow were mooch-mates then, so that PacMan would always pay a courtesy call at Malacanang each time he came home triumphant.
After Pacquiao?s 12-round destruction of the hapless and defenseless Brandon Rios on Nov. 24 in Macau, the boxer flew straight home to his native GenSan.
No courtesy call on P-Noy?
Fine. P-Noy is Liberal and Pacquiao is in Binay?s Una.
P-Noy?s take on the tax issue: ?Pacquiao should talk to Henares instead of talking to the media.?
I?m not saying anything but, of course, you know what I am saying, right?
