EDITORIAL - Pacquiao must fight all fights like a man

Is Manny Pacquiao being singled out by the government? Yes he is. There is nothing this government will not do to persecute its political enemies. And recent history will show it has no qualms about using every arm of government to pursue this unstated policy of political persecution.

One thing that can be said of this government, however, is that it does not manufacture the basis for persecution. There has to be a single, original and plausible foundation from which it can spring its attacks on its enemies.

This does not mean, though, that it is beyond employing the dirtiest tricks within its disposal to ensure that their enemies are swept out of the way or reduced to irrelevance. We have seen this with Gloria Arroyo and we have seen this with Renato Corona. We are seeing it now with several more enemies.

As to Pacquiao, the Filipino boxing icon only has himself to blame for his current miseries. For it is hard to imagine how somebody with as much money, power and influence as he has would not be able to wrap up his business in a clean and orderly manner.

If Pacquiao has time to engage in his many other activities aside from boxing and politics, it seems inconceivable that we would be neglectful of his tax obligations. Look, money and taxes are almost synonymous with each other. Pacquiao couldn't be making so much money and forget paying taxes completely.

So, okay, he has paid his taxes in the United States as he claims. But where is the proof. From what anyone has heard being said so far, all that has ever surfaced are mere certifications of this or that. There is no real and hard document that says Pacquiao paid this amount and when.

If Pacquiao is the hero that many people believe him to be, then he has the obligation to act like one. What we have seen so far is something way short of heroic. What Pacquiao is doing is act like somebody being persecuted. Ok, fine, he is being persecuted. But counting on sympathy answers not the question at hand.

Is he being persecuted simply because he belongs to the political opposition? Or is he being persecuted because the government has discovered some vulnerability that it can exploit? Just because he is being persecuted doesn't mean Pacquiao cannot be made to answer for his obligations as a citizen.