The President’s Porsche

Juana Change produced this video on the President’s Porsche. There are mixed reactions on the purchase.

One of the more significant accusation against the purchase is that government officials need to have a simple lifestyle as specified in the Constitution and the law, “Republic Act No. 6713″ section H.

“(h) Simple living. — Public officials and employees and their families shall lead modest lives appropriate to their positions and income. They shall not indulge in extravagant or ostentatious display of wealth in any form.”

Simple lifestyle is quite subjective . Perhaps to the President, buying a second hand Porsche is not extravagant. To those that can’t afford a Porsche, it is ostentatious. It just doesn’t seem right anymore when the Lexus was purchased. Sure, he didn’t steal the money to buy it but it still does not look good in the eyes of the poor Filipinos.

One of the highly rated comments in this video berating those that voted for him.

This is PNoy Administration rolled in five minutes forty seven seconds. But hey…. bat kayo nagrereklamo ngayon in the first place you voted for him, you campaigned strong for? him rather rigorously campaigned for him. Ano napala nyo, wala puro pa din kayo reklamo. Why would you question him buying a luxurious car? Dahil pa parang hindi sya nakakaramdam sa tunay na saloobin ng bayan? well kahit pa man cguro noon he was never serious of the seat of presidency.. it was just YOU who ‘porsched’ HIM

And what did Twitter have to say?

One doubted if people voted for the right President. Another doesn’t mind “if president noynoy aquino will drive and buy any luxurious car.. as long as he never uses the money of people !!”

An opinion article in Philstar reveals that our president is not quite transparent as he refuses to show the documents pertaining to the purchase.

Unfortunately, on the Porsche and the Lexus, P-Noy had been less than transparent. Bobi Tiglao of the Inquirer requested for the documents pertaining to the Porsche, deed of sale and registration but P-Noy refused to release the documents.

If P-Noy lived up to the hype he created about his being totally transparent, he would have found no difficulty in releasing the documents and thus ending all the speculations about the real cost of the Porsche and if he really fully paid for it with his own money.

Manong Ernie Maceda who writes in the op/ed section of this newspaper was the first to raise questions. Subsequently, those who know about cars corroborated the doubts that the Porsche only costs P4.5 million and that P-Noy was able to sell his old BMW X-5 for the same amount. Porsche is the kind of car that is able to keep its value while BMWs drastically lose value the moment you drive it out of the showroom.

So, if the Porsche costs more than P4.5 million and the X-5 sold for less than P4.5 million, how was the gap bridged? Did someone lend him the money? Or did someone arrange to have him get the Porsche anyway by taking care of the difference? Releasing the documents would erase all doubts.

The major concern here is that if someone did the President a favor, that someone would be in a position to exact a favor in return. That is the same concern with the Lexus. No one is questioning the President’s need for a good armored vehicle for his safety. We all want him to be alive and lead this nation. But P-Noy should let us know who lent him that Lexus. If it is a brother-in-law, which one? If it is a campaign supporter, who?

At first, I was on the side of the President that he has the right to purchase things with his own money. But with the revelation that he is not open to showing the documentation, then something is amiss here.

Here are the reactions of others on the Porsche.

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