Sen. Aquilino Pimentel III speaks at the first Politicon Philippines. (Photo from the event organizers)
MANILA, Philippines — Former Senate President and current senatorial aspirant Sen. Aquilino “Koko” Pimentel III rejects the widespread tactic of “negative campaigning, ” even as the same is being conducted against him just days before the May 13 elections.
“It is useless, ineffective, and unethical” he said in an interview with INQUIRER.net where he also shared his stand on the achievements of the Duterte administration, as well as his desire to set his own lasting legacy as a senator who stands for justice.
Pimentel is seen as a strong contender for reelection, given his steady position within the “Magic 12.” But as campaign season settles into the homestretch, he says online attacks against him have increased.
One of these attacks alleges a link between himself and the Liberal Party, although Pimentel points out the well-documented fact that he and his father Sen. Aquilino Pimentel, also a former Senate President and a great influence on him, have been close friends and supporters of President Duterte ever since the 1980’s.
“PDP Laban was born out of a common effort against Martial Law.” He ascribes this as a possible flawed basis of the rumors. All of it may be a product of infighting and jockeying for favor with a President who he defines as simply being above that.
“The President has an immense sense of utang ng loob (debt of gratitude) to loyal supporters, but if you betray his trust, you’re out.” He describes Duterte as operating on a firm “one-strike policy,” citing many who have paid for their mistakes with a public sacking and disgrace.
When asked, Pimentel offered three hallmarks of the present administration as “promises fulfilled, political will, and a willingness to think outside the box”—all crucial in securing goals that were once seen as too difficult or even unachievable.
“Free education for all was called impossible due to its expensive funding requirements, but look, we still did it,” Pimentel refers to the successful trimming of other government projects in paying for the measure.
“There was also the abolition of the Road Board, the end to cigarette smuggling, the payment of landing fees in arrears, and others. We showed the people that all this can be done.”
Pimentel, who possesses remarkable twin credentials as a bar topnotcher and a math major in his college years, says that these have equipped him with a “flexibility of mind” that he uses to champion a justice system he likens to the “runway” on which the country relies on.
“We are a government now which is all about law and order, with the cause of justice as something I am deeply involved in. If we make the runway of justice trustworthy, it will surely attract foreign and local investors,” he said, adding that only then can an already growing Philippine economy and society truly take off. /muf