Pimentel: Honesty can’t be forced as an issue on everyone

Reelectionist Senator Aquilino ‘Koko’ Pimentel. Photo by Cathrine Gonzales / INQUIRER.net

MANILA, Philippines – While honesty is important to reelectionist Senator Aquilino Pimentel III, he said Monday that he couldn’t “force it to be an issue” for everybody.

Pimentel made the reaction when asked to comment about Davao City Mayor Sara Duterte-Carpio’s remark that “honesty should not be an issue” in the May 2019 elections.

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“It’s important to me,” Pimentel said in an interview over the ABS CBN News Channel. “But I cannot force it to be an issue for everybody,” he added.

He explained that honesty could be used by voters as “criteria” in choosing their next leaders in the country, but it would be up to voters to decide if it would be an election issue.

“Honesty can be used by the voter as one of his criteria. Basta, objectively speaking, nasa Constitution yung qualifications for running,” he said.

“But since public office is a public trust, nasa ‘yo na yun. What is your standard? What are your criteria to determine who you can trust with public office?” Pimentel added.

Pimentel, president of the Partido Demokratiko Pilipino-Lakas ng Bayan (PDP-Laban), said he thought people should vote for honest politicians.

“Yes, people should call for that,” he said when asked if the public should vote for honest politicians.

“If some people can trust a person who has not been too honest, then that is his decision,” he added. /cbb