Zubiri: No need to lunch with Pimentel, we’ve patched things up

Former Bukidnon Rep. Juan Miguel Zubiri. INQUIRER FILE PHOTO

MANILA, Philippines — Saying he has moved on, former Bukidnon Representative Juan Miguel “Migz” Zubiri said he saw no need for Senator Aquilino “Koko” Pimentel III to treat him to lunch as they have already reconciled even before the May 13 elections.

Zubiri said he considered their chance meeting at the El Shaddai rally on the Saturday prior to the election as their make-up session.

El Shaddai leader Mike Velarde requested their presence that time as he endorsed their senatorial candidacies.

Zubiri ran for senator under the United Nationalist Alliance while Pimentel was a re-electionist candidate of the administration-backed Team PNoy.

“I thank Koko for his generous offer of hosting my wife and I for lunch, but I shall save him the expense as it wouldn’t be necessary as I believe we have already patched up our differences during the El Shaddai prayer rally held on the eve of the last elections,” Zubiri said in an e-mailed statement.

“My action during that evening was of utmost sincerity and I firmly believe there wouldn’t be a need for a repeat,” he added.

Pimentel remains optimistic however that their date would still push through.

“Matutuloy din yan (It will eventually happen),” he told the Philippine Daily Inquirer in a solicited text message on Thursday, after receiving a forwarded copy of Zubiri’s statement.

Pimentel offered to host lunch for Zubiri and his wife Audrey after he was proclaimed eighth placer in the last senatorial election.

The invitation came in the aftermath of the word war the two men had, stemming from Pimentel’s election protest against Zubiri’s proclamation as the 12th placer in the 2007 senatorial election.

Pimentel claimed that Zubiri’s victory was backed by massive fraud, especially in Maguindanao.

The Senate Electoral Tribunal eventually declared Pimentel the true winner but not after Zubiri occupied the post for more than four years.

Their verbal battle peaked during the last campaign when Zubiri apparently felt slighted by Pimentel’s references to the poll fraud in 2007 in his speeches.

Zubiri said that after his loss in the last election, “I have come to humbly accept my fate. God may have other plans for me and therefore my family and I are moving on with our lives.”

While he has left politics, Zubiri said he would now focus on work at the Philippine Red Cross as a volunteer and member of its board of governors.

He said he has been involved in the organization for the past 15 years.

“It is my fervent hope that although we may take different paths, may we not forget to pray, work and aspire for the betterment of this great nation and its people,” Zubiri’s statement concluded.

Pimentel earlier said he planned to discuss with Zubiri how they could work together for the progress of Region 10 where both of them come from.