Pimentel for Duterte, not for Bongbong

Senator Aquilino “Koko” Pimentel INQUIRER FILE PHOTO

SHOULD Davao City Mayor Rodrigo Duterte decide to run for President, Sen. Aquilino “Koko” Pimentel III on Tuesday said he had “reservations” about him teaming up with Sen. Ferdinand Marcos Jr.

A day after Marcos declared he would run for Vice President and that he got an endorsement from Duterte, Pimentel said it would be “good” for Marcos if he obtained Davao City’s endorsement.

He said Duterte had many die-hard followers.

But this will be a different case for him and possibly even his party, the Partido Demokratiko Pilipino-Lakas ng Bayan (PDP-Laban), when it comes to supporting a Duterte-Marcos tandem.

“I have said if the mayor chooses Sen. Marcos, as the party leader I have my reservations about the tandem. But not with the mayor running for President. We will support him (Duterte),” Pimentel told the Inquirer.

Asked what his reservations were on Marcos, Pimentel wondered how he could justify the team-up when the PDP-Laban was a “party borne out as a reaction to martial law and fighting civil liberties.”

Pimentel was referring to Marcos being the son of late dictator Ferdinand Marcos whom activists, including Pimentel’s father, former Sen. Aquilino Pimentel Jr., fought.

“Let’s say in a rally, Sen. Marcos will refer to his father as a hero. Will we applaud when he was not a hero in our eyes?” the senator said.

Pimentel said he hoped Duterte would hear his stand and “will consider it.” He added there was a big chance his party mates would support him in his reservations about a Duterte-Marcos team-up.