IN the good, old days when people were generally decent, those lucky enough to get what the Chinese call “the mandate of haven” for winning the presidential race left the office poorer than when they got in.

It was their greatest testament that they executed their office with honor, integrity, dignity.

Indeed, respect for a public office must begin with the person holding such position.

The much-loved deeply revered President Ramon Magsaysay was said to have even vowed to personally jail any member of his family who would steal from the government. The statement was supposed to have landed him on the cover of an international weekly news magazine.

But those who held that lofty office after he died in a plane crash took the presidential road to perdition by flaunting ostentatious lifestyles highlighted by fabulous mansions, luxurious vehicles, Swiss bank accounts, designer clothes, and expensive jewelry.

It was a moral downhill ride from that point on. Living simply was no longer a highly regarded virtue.

We know his clan belongs to the landed class, and being rich is a natural thing for them.

But for all the much-vaunted moral ascendancy of President Aquino, we grimaced listening to his unabashed defense of being personally richer one year after the elections that clinched for him the presidency by a wide margin over his nearest rival.

The President has admitted he is over P4 million richer since he became the country’s Chief Executive on account of his inheritance from his parents.

“The net worth has increased by the mere fact that my mother died, my dad died and they gave me an inheritance. So, that’s the only reason that it has increased,” he was quoted as telling reporters in an informal interview at the Commission on Audit.

“The increase of P4 million was for a property owned by my mother and several of my siblings (that was sold) recently,” he added.

The President was explaining why his assets grew by P4.8 million compared to last year as shown in his statement of assets, liabilities and net worth for 2010, which he submitted to the Office of the Ombudsman.

Early this year, a Cojuangco-owned 14-hectare land in Antipolo City was sold for P466 million to firms belonging to the Robinsons Group of Companies.

The value of P466 million was computed based on the P34-million capital gains tax and documentary stamps that the Aquinos paid at the Bureau of Internal Revenue.

Capital-gains tax account for six percent of the total contract price and/or market value, whichever is higher, and documentary stamps account for 1.5 percent of the contract, which meansthe total transaction at the minimum could have reached P466 million.

The President also declared in his SALN his motor vehicles worth P8.7 million, including the controversial white 2007 Porsche sports car he bought in December 2010.