Senators pay tribute to Nene Pimentel

LAST RESPECTS The wake of former Senate President Aquilino “Nene” Pimentel Jr. is being held at Heritage Memorial Park in Taguig City. In photo (at far right) are his wife, Lourdes de la Llana, and son, Sen. Aquilino “Koko” Pimentel III. —RICHARD A. REYES

MANILA, Philippines — Former Senate President Aquilino “Nene” Pimentel Jr. will return for the last time on Wednesday to the halls of the institution that he used to lead.

The Senate is scheduled to honor its former head in necrological services, which would have his former colleagues delivering eulogies for him.

Among those expected to speak are his colleagues in the 8th Congress, former Senators Heherson Alvarez and Joey Lina.

Senate President Vicente Sotto III, Sen. Pia Cayetano and former Sen. Nikki Coseteng will also deliver eulogies.

A great statesman

The Senate will present a resolution to Pimentel’s family expressing the Senate’s sympathy and condolence over the former Senate President’s passing.

Sen. Aquilino “Koko” Pimentel III will deliver a response on the family’s behalf.

The elder Pimentel passed away on Sunday from lymphoma. He was 85.

The nation mourned the passing of the former senator, who is regarded as a great statesman and was one of the most prominent freedom fighters and opponents of the Marcos regime during martial law.

Sen. Nancy Binay paid her own tribute to the elder Pimentel.

“Sen. Aquilino Q. Pimentel Jr. was a mentor and a dear friend to our family,” she said. “Our family shares the same emptiness left by someone everyone loves,” she added.

She credited the elder Pimentel for paving the way for her father Jejomar Binay’s entry into public service by appointing the latter as officer in charge of Makati after Corazon Aquino was catapulted to the presidency after the Edsa People Power Revolution.

“Tatay was the first to recognize my Dad’s heart in public service,” she said.

Pimentel and the elder Binay were both members of the Movement of Attorneys for Brotherhood, Integrity and Nationalism Inc., which was composed of human rights lawyers who fought the Marcos regime.

They also cofounded the Partido Demokratiko Pilipino-Lakas ng Bayan, which became the ruling party during the Duterte presidency.

Thinking of others

Even up to the end, Pimentel thought of the country and of others more than he thought of himself, according to his wife, Lourdes.

Lourdes, Bing to friends, recalled her husband saying to her that he wished the advanced medical equipment present now had been available when his own mother was sick.

“He said, ‘maybe mama would have lived longer,’” she said.

“Even when he was sick, he was thinking of his mom who died several years ago. So he was always thinking of others, not himself,” she added.

Bing also said her husband did not want her getting tired when she was taking care of him.

“He was thinking of me, not himself. That’s why we love him, because he was thinking of the country more than himself,” she said.

Former Sen. Ramon Magsaysay Jr. also remembered Pimentel as the people’s sentinel and someone who fought for the powerless.

“Unbending in his principles, Ka Nene stood up for the voiceless, powerless and the oppressed—mostly ordinary people like farmers, fisherfolk and the urban poor—to represent their interests and advance their causes,” Magsaysay said.

‘The people’s sentinel’

“He was the people’s sentinel, always ready to uphold human rights and the rule of law,” he added.

Magsaysay also said that he had great respect for Pimentel’s courage, passion and intellect.

He would always be grateful to him for reopening the probe into the fertilizer fund scam, he added.

In the nine years they shared at the Senate, Magsaysay said he learned a lot from Pimentel’s wisdom and guidance.