PRESIDENT Benigno Aquino III on Thursday defended his sister Kris Aquino who was accused of using a presidential helicopter during a campaign sortie of the ruling Liberal Party bet Manuel Roxas II.
Speaking to reporters in Batangas, Aquino said there was nothing wrong if Kris used a presidential chopper after she was photographed alighting from a blue and white Bell 412 helicopter bearing the presidential seal.
She and an aide were wearing a yellow shirt, the LP’s campaign color.
Roxas also defended Kris on Thursday after she drew flak from netizens for using military choppers to campaign for him in Cebu Tuesday.
“I think she was with the President right?” Roxas told reporters in Jaen, Nueva Ecija.
“She is the sister of the President. She is a member of the President’s family. There are courtesies and privileges extended to the President’s companions.”
The spokesman of the Philippine Air Force also defended Kris for using the assets of the 250 Presidential Airlift Wing in her campaign sorties for Roxas.
“I don’t think she was there to campaign. That question should be asked from the Office of the President,” PAF spokesman Colonel Araus Robert Musico said.
Malacañang on Thursday denied the allegations by Bagong Alyansang Makabayan that the Liberal Party’s Manuel Roxas II and Leni Robredo were the most corrupt presidential and vice presidential candidates, respectively, for using government resources and coercing the recipients of the government’s dole to the poor to support them.
Aquino said it was Kris who volunteered to join the campaign.
On a personal note, he said he wanted to show Kris the gains of the democracy that their parents, former Senator Benigno Aquino Jr. and former President Corazon Aquino, fought for.
Malacañang earlier said that the immediate family members of the President were allowed to ride with him in government vehicles.
Aquino also said his sister was one of the biggest individual taxpayers in the country. He added that he had been open to allowing investors to ride in the presidential chopper.
Aquino said that those criticizing Kris for riding the presidential chopper may be the same people who never saw good in his governance.
