BIR case to divert attention from Aquino

Manny Pacquiao fought for the pride of his country and dedicated his victory to the victims of Supertyphoon “Yolanda.” With the world watching his postfight interview, he vowed to go home right away to help the victims of the typhoon. Go home is exactly what Pacquiao did, but something happened or didn’t happen when he arrived in the country, before he could help the typhoon victims: He failed to pay President Aquino a courtesy visit in Malacañang. Which resulted in Pacquiao’s accounts and assets being frozen by the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) and Pacquiao losing access to the billions of pesos that he earned in boxing.

That became news in world media: Pacquiao’s bank accounts have been frozen and he is basically just as poor as those in Tacloban City … well not really, but he certainly can’t touch his money in all his bank accounts.

It’s hard not to think that President Aquino’s PR team was behind this big story. The news coming from the Philippines before this was Yolanda and how bad and inefficient Mr. Aquino was  in handling relief operations in its wake. So it makes total sense that the Aquino administration would use international superstar Manny Pacquiao’s BIR issue to divert attention away from the President’s failed response to Yolanda.

Let’s face it: If the BIR were serious about running after tax evaders, then it would be right on the back of most of today’s senators and of administration officials like Budget Secretary Butch Abad and Agriculture Secretary Proceso Alcala. But it’s not. Freezing the

accounts of Abad or Alcala won’t catch international media’s attention and won’t take focus away from Mr. Aquino’s disorganized and poorly managed relief efforts.

—JOSEPH GELLAR, [email protected]