I was watching Pacquiao’s lawyer the other day try to explain how his client was able to import a brand new Porsche SUV into the Philippines and get away with paying only about half of its taxable duties. And the lawyerly reasoning was the usual: It was all an honest mistake.

Manny, said the lawyer, forgot to include the price of all the accessories to his car and thus only declared it to be worth something like US$30,000. Never mind if the declared price tag makes it cheaper than some locally assembled luxury sedans; Manny got a hefty discount, you see. But more importantly, since Manny is willing to help the government and pay the difference between what he actually paid and what he should have paid for, what’s the problem?

The problem is, some other folks don’t get away that easily. Remember the TV and movie entertainers the BIR went after some time back? They were accused of fudging their tax returns, in defense of selves they claimed was all the fault of their accountants (possibly true!). But were they ever heard to claim it was an "honest mistake", and that since they were "willing to help the government", they would simply pay the difference and all’s well that ends well?

Nope, and even if they did I don’t know how the government would have reacted. The fact is, Richard Gomez and Judy Ann and their colleagues weren’t given kid-glove treatment, unlike the man who earns his keep using boxing gloves. Ironic, don’t you think, that the guy who takes gloves to his face is treated so gingerly?

Then again, this is Manny Pacquiao we are talking about, and this is the Arroyo administration we are living under. Like so many administrations before it and surely so many after, this administration has its favorites who can figuratively get away with murder, just as it has its pet peeves who get thrown the book (and the kitchen sink) at them on the slightest of provocations.

But looking at it another way, does the fact that Manny is now being raked over the coals for this indicate that the winds have been shifting against him? Is it possible that he is no longer one of the "niño bonitos" of the powers-that-be, and now feels the consequence of being someone no longer that useful?

Serves him right, some will say, for having allowed himself to get dragged into partisan politics in the first place. It all began, some will insist, when the Atienzas of Manila began giving Manny the royal treatment, con todo float and all, and started even floating the idea (no pun intended) that politics in Manila was beckoning to Manny, a potential vice mayoralty bet to Atienza’s own son Ali.

Other politicos followed suit immediately, and Manny’s motorcade after every victory started to take longer and longer routes. He began receiving requests for endorsements, specifically the kind where he raises someone’s hands aloft and declares that he, Manny Pacquiao, had always been a fan of this or that candidate, dating back to when he was a little boy in General Santos City. He said that of Chavit Singson, remember? And for the life of me I had a hard time imagining a young Manny, perhaps still wearing shorts in General Santos, following every move in the life (and maybe even loves) of the controversial governor and kingpin of that northernmost province of Ilocos Sur.

Inevitably it moved beyond being the endorser, to being the endorsed. That meant becoming the candidate himself and in the process becoming the issue. But heck, this was the People’s Champ, this was Manny Pacquiao, who could be forgiven by some for saying that the nice thing about winning the elections for Congress is that, after he wins, it won’t be his own money he would now be giving away!

But he lost – despite the fact that he did apparently give away his own money and lots of it – to some wily campaign managers who must have sold him the idea that a few hundred thousands more spent here or there or for this or that would be the key to victory at the polls.

And then this: being hounded about this Porsche!

I still remember Manny’s immediate response to media: "Inggit lang sila".

Well, I for one didn’t envy his Porsche; and I don’t envy him now for having to rely on his lawyer to explain the tax declaration discrepancy. I also don’t envy him for the comments I now hear, with some saying, perhaps unfairly, that if Manny tried to get away with this now, what would he have tried to get away with as a congressman?

Maybe it is simply this: Listen to your mother. If Manny listened to Aling Dionisia and stayed away from politics, not only would he have his prize winnings intact, he would even have intact the affection and support of every Filipino.

But he didn’t, and so he is where he is a hero demoted, one now being picked on and treated in a way so different from the treatment he first received as a conquering "national" hero.

Here’s hoping your next victory somehow restores some of the luster that has faded from your armor.