EDITORIAL – Where is your conscience?

A video is going viral on Youtube of a soldier who died waiting for a chopper to transport him to the hospital. The choppers are used transporting VIPs at that very time the soldier needed to be airlifted.
What a pitiful sight. The soldier breathing his last as no help came to save his precious life dedicated to fighting for the country.
By contrast, five choppers were used by President Aquino and sister Kris reportedly for a campaign sortie.
We should have known by now that the Kris Helicopter story has gone viral too eliciting a storm of criticisms from netizens.
President Aquino came to the rescue of his sister saying she is entitled to use the government helicopter because she is one of the country’s top taxpayers.
Since when has using government choppers become the incentive for paying huge taxes?
Last time we checked, using government helicopters for partisan activities is an election offense.
For using a government helicopter to campaign for the administration’s presidential and vice presidential candidates, it is clear that Kris committed an election offense and his brother President Benigno Aquino III is more liable for allowing it.
Presidential Communications Secretary Herminio Coloma Jr., likewise defended Kris with a statement insisting that immediate members of the president’s family were not barred from using official government vehicles.
Granting for the sake of argument that Kris is entitled to use the chopper, President Aquino could be liable. While the law does not prohibit elected and appointed government officials from partisan political activity such as campaigning, they should do so without violating the Omnibus Election Code.
Section 261 of the Omnibus Election Code, defines states the following as an election offense:
“Use of public funds, money deposited in trust, equipment, facilities owned or controlled by the government for an election campaign. – Any person who uses under any guise whatsoever, directly or indirectly …(3) any equipment, vehicle, facility, apparatus, or paraphernalia owned by the government or by its political subdivisions, agencies including government-owned or controlled corporations, or by the Armed Forces of the Philippines for any election campaign or for any partisan political activity.”
The administration will come up with all excuses to make the illegal appear legal, but what is very sickening here is that a poor soldier’s life has been reportedly lost because of this impropriety.
Alright, be it a high-paying taxpayer’s prize or a first family’s privilege—name all your excuses—but heck, where is your conscience?