Considering a country where a third world population in rank lives on less than a dollar a day, President Aquino III has managed to purchase a third-hand 2007 Porsche. At a press briefing in Malacañang, Lacierda defended, ‘It’s a private purchase, it came from his own funds. The purchase were proceeds from the sale of another asset and that other asset was acquired through personal loans. He’s subject to scrutiny as a public official, I will grant you that. [But] what he does, again, privately is entirely his own discretion and I think we should allow him some private space,’ he said.

As local press cited Pres. Aquino ordered banning government units from buying luxury cars as service vehicles seemed somehow appeared to be out of character. Lacierda noted that the value of the Porsche, had it not been depreciated substantially to P4.5 million, the president wouldn’t even consider buying it.

In an interview at Malacañang, Aquino said his purchase should not affect his government’s policy of austerity in spending public funds. “Hindi ho gobyerno ang nagbayad niyan. Ibinenta ko po ‘yung isang sasakyan ko at nagkataon ho meron namang buyer na ‘yun po ang ginamit ko pambayad nitong sasakyan ko. Ano bang masama na habang may kakayahan pa po akong magmaneho ng ganoong klaseng sasakyan dahil siguro naman pagbaba ko or ten years from now, iba na ang ating reflexes”.

Aquino sees nothing wrong in buying a sports car while he can still drive, although added he may not be able to drive his Porsche that often.

“Hindi naman po ako siguro pupunta ng videogame para sumubok ng eksperiensiyang ‘yon,” he added in jest.

Last year May election, he won a landslide victory on an anti-corruption pledge of clean government and an end to wasteful spending that cause of country’s widespread poverty.