Benigno Aquino flogs 'risky' Porsche

Philippine President Benigno Aquino said Tuesday that he had sold his Porsche, just months after he earned widespread criticism in the poverty-stricken country for splashing out on it. Aquino said it was security concerns and not the controversy surrounding the luxury vehicle, which he bought second hand, that prompted him to get rid of the white Porsche. "It's putting an unnecessary risk on the people who are guarding me. It is too exposed and it is like an advertisement, saying, 'Here I am. I am most vulnerable here'," the president told reporters. "I just relegated it to the garage and it would deteriorate if it is not used. So its time to let somebody (else) experience it," said the 51-year-old bachelor. Aquino would not reveal who bought the car or for how much. But he said he sold the vehicle -- which press said was a 2007 model -- for "exactly the same price that I bought it for". Aquino's announcement in January that he had bought the Porsche sparked anger in a country where one in four people live on a dollar a day or less, according to a 2009 government survey. Although no one accused him of using state funds to buy the vehicle, critics pointed out that it went against his image of fighting corruption and wasteful spending that got him elected by a landslide in 2010. Local press reports said the car was worth 4.5 million pesos ($102,000) but an Aquino spokesman said the used vehicle had already depreciated substantially in value before the president acquired it. Aquino has been known to take the wheel from his personal driver during provincial trips, and once said he considered long drives on smooth highways as among the small luxuries he enjoys.