Mar defends Kris on chopper issue

MANILA, Philippines - Liberal Party (LP) standard bearer Manuel “Mar” Roxas II Thursday defended presidential sister Kris Aquino from critics who ganged up on her for using a presidential chopper to attend a campaign sortie.

Roxas claimed that Aquino’s presence at the LP sortie did not entail additional costs.

“I think she was with the president right? 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,” Roxas told reporters in Jaen, Nueva Ecija.

“It did not require extra costs. If the president flew (to attend the sortie), she just tagged along with him,” he added.

Aquino drew flak after photos showing her allegedly using a presidential helicopter to attend a campaign rally of LP went viral.

The photos were posted at the official Facebook page of the Municipality of Dalaguete, the town in Cebu where Aquino and her party landed. Aquino then traveled by land to Argao town where she joined the president in campaigning for Roxas and his running mate Camarines Sur Rep. Leni Robredo.

Many of those who commented on the video questioned Aquino’s use of government resources to attend campaign sorties. Others chided the LP for supposedly not walking the talk on its daang matuwid or straight path policy.  

Kabataan party-list Rep. Terry Ridon also criticized Aquino’s use of the presidential chopper, calling it a “brazen use of government machinery to further the campaign of Mar Roxas.”  

“The public should be warned that while we do not like insensitive leaders, the leadership represented by Mar Roxas is incompatible with the most basic aspirations of our people,” Ridon said in a statement.

Militant group Bagong Alyansang Makabayan, for its part, scored the LP for its alleged “shameless use of government funds and resources for partisan political activity.”

“The issue isn’t whether or not it is okay for Kris Aquino to ride the presidential chopper with her brother. The issue is whether or not it is right for both of them to be using government resources to campaign for the Liberal Party,” Bayan secretary-general Renato Reyes Jr. said in a statement.

Malacañang has justified Aquino’s use of the presidential chopper, saying members of the president’s immediate family are allowed to ride with him in official government vehicles.

Aquino’s photos circulated a few days after a video showing envelopes being distributed at a campaign rally of LP surfaced online.

The giving of envelopes supposedly happened before a Roxas campaign rally last March 31 in Pikit, North Cotabato.

The video showed a male emcee warning members of the audience that they would not get envelopes if they do not cheer for Roxas.

The LP has vowed to investigate the incident and maintained that it does not condone violations of election laws.