By Eddie G. Alinea
Two Former senators, three-division world boxing champions, two Olympians and a pro-basketball great cast their lot with embattled
boxing icon Manny Pacquiao in the latter's
fight versus charges of discrepancies in his recent tax payments.
Both former lawmakers Nikki Coseteng and Freddie Webb deplored the Bureau of Internal Revenue’s premature announcement of the alleged discrepancies without first ascertaining the
facts.
“For one, there’s a big difference between tax evasion and tax avoidance,†Coseteng, who represented Quezon City in both the Lower House and the Upper Chamber one after another in her lawmaking days, stressed.
“It could be that it was Pacquiao’s accountants who made the mistakes, wittingly or unwittingly. Alam naman natin magagaling ang accountant gumawa ng paraan kung paano mababawasan ang babayaran without really intending to cheat,†the first and only woman to own and manage a professional basketball team, added.
“So announcing and insinuating that Pacquiao cheated and tried to evade paying taxes is rather premature. Singling him out in the first place leaves a bad taste in the mouth, isn’t it?†Coseteng remarked.
“Ang dami dyan gumagamit ng expertise para mababa ang bayaran, malalaking tao din, pero di ina-announce. Si Manny ibinalita agad.â€
“Manny, as has been said over and over again, is a national treasure who should show good example sa mga Filipino. He is a role model and to brand him as tax evader, marami talagang madi-disappoint at magagalit sa gobyerno,†Coseteng explained.
Webb, former national player, coach and another congressman to rise as a senator, felt the World Boxing Organization welterweight champion and the only man to win eight world titles in as many weight divisions might have been a victim of a “big fish†used as sample to show the government’s determination to weed out the system of shenanigans.
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