BIR eyeing Pacquiao properties, not just bank accounts, to cover tax liability

Manny Pacquiao bought a piece of his roots in the old LM Gym in Sampaloc, Manila where the fighter trained as a 17-year-old amateur.

In 2008, the gym vanished after the fabulously wealthy Pacquiao demolished the gym and replaced it with a seven-story building., according to a report aired on "24 Oras" Thursday.

 

Today, the posh MP Towers is home to three of the boxer's own businesses-- a water refilling station, a travel agency and a state-of-the-art boxing gym. According to The Ring, a boxing website, the building also has several dormitories where his foreign sparring partners stay when they arrive in Manila. 

That and other Pacquiao properties may end up as government possessions if he doesn't settle his tax bills.

The Bureau of Internal Revenue has said that in addition to Pacquiao's bank accounts, it is eyeing his properties as a way of covering his tax liability, said to be P2.2 billion.

 

The boxer's wealth has come under scrutiny this week after Pacquiao announced that the BIR issued a warrant of garnishment on his bank accounts due to his alleged failure to remit taxes from his earnings in boxing matches in the United States in 2008 and 2009.

 

Pacquiao's camp's claim that it has sent the BIR documentary proof that he has paid taxes has been rebutted by BIR Commissioner Kim Henares, who said the document was a mere letter from his promoter, Top Rank Promotions.

On Wednesday, Pacquiao showed GMA News a copy of a US tax document, but Henares said the BIR only accepts the original or "certified true copies."

 

Five mansions

 

Pacquiao, named by Forbes magazine as the 14th highest paid athlete in the world this year, is known to own real estate all over the Philippines and abroad.

 

The boxer is said to own five mansions-- two in General Santos City, one in Laguna, one in Parañaque City and a P380-million residence in the elite Forbes Park subdivision in Makati City. 

 

The fifth one, a $2.7 million mansion in Los Angeles, has reportedly been for sale since August 2013.

 

Pacquiao is also known to have built a mansion for his mother, Dionisia, in General Santos City that is reportedly worth P7 million. 

 

The boxer's wife, Jinkee, has shrugged off reports they are bankrupt by saying that they are planning to buy a new property in Beverly Hills, California after selling the LA mansion.

 

Aside from owning several mansions, Pacquiao is also known to have a penchant for luxury vehicles.

 

According to sources in the aviation industry quoted in the television report, the boxer bought a used Bell 206A Jet Ranger helicopter in 2012 for an undisclosed amount.

 

An article written by Gayle Falkenthal for Communities at WashingtonTimes.com showed Pacquiao posing beside the helicopter painted with his surname and MP logo.

 

A brand new Bell helicopter reportedly costs as much as $1.2 million or more than P42 million.

 

Other luxury vehicles reportedly owned by Pacquiao include a Ferrari 458 Italia sports car worth at an estimated $228,000, a Porsche Cayenne, Lincoln Navigator and Mercedes Benz. — Xianne Arcangel/JDS/HS, GMA News