Like father, like son
“The apple doesn’t fall far from the tree,” is an idiomatic expression that means the child’s character is similar to that of his father or if the child is a girl, to that of her mother. The editorial of the Philippine Daily Inquirer on March 1 ended with the line, “How far the fruit has fallen from the tree.” It was in reference to Senate President Aquilino “Koko” Pimentel III, son of former Senate President Aquilino “Nene” Pimentel, Jr.
The negative comment is born of Mr. Koko Pimentel’s flawed explanation of the reorganization of the Senate. Senate President Pro-Tempore Franklin Drilon, the Liberal Party vice-chair, was replaced by Sen. Ralph Recto, Sen. Bam Aquino, chair of the Education Committee, by Sen. Francis Escudero, Sen. Francis Pangilinan, chair of Agriculture and Food Committee by Sen. Cynthia Villar, and Liberal Party ally Risa Hontiveros, chair of the Health and Demography Committee by Sen. JV Ejercito.
According to Mr. Koko Pimentel, the reorganization had become necessary because work in the Senate had been hampered by the blurring of the lines between the majority and the minority to the detriment of public interest. He said that there have been instances where the majority, instead of closing ranks, ended up divided.
Liberal Party president Sen. Francis Pangilinan took exception to Mr. Pimentel’s contention. He pointed out that almost 70% of the bills now nearing enactment into law are being defended by the Liberal Party members whereas two out of the three priority bills of Pres. Duterte are still awaiting resolution in the Justice Committee, which is chaired by Sen. Richard Gordon, a staunch ally of the President.
The reorganization was initiated by Pres. Duterte’s allies in the Senate soon after a number of senators led by Liberal Party members voted to hear out Arthur Lascañas. The former Davao police officer had claimed in a recent press conference that he killed people on orders of Mr. Duterte when he was mayor of Davao City. Observers believe that Pres. Duterte, piqued by the Liberal senators’ move to invite Mr. Lascañas to testify before the Senate Committee on Public Order and Dangerous Drugs chaired by Sen. Panfilo Lacson, instigated the reorganization, with Senate President Koko Pimentel submitting to the prodding of the President.
How different the son is from the father, the writer of the March 1 editorial of the Inquirer must have thought. Mr. Nene Pimentel first drew national attention when he, as a delegate of Misamis Oriental to the Constitutional Convention of 1971, vehemently opposed the inclusion in the Constitution of provisions proposed by Pres. Ferdinand Marcos because they were contrary to the best interests of the people. When Pres. Marcos declared Martial Law on September 23, 1972, Mr. Pimentel was among those arrested and jailed. While he was released in time for the signing of the approved draft of the Constitution, he refused to sign it.
Koko the son has a character similar to that of Nene the father.
Mr. Nene Pimentel again earned the admiration of civil society in October 2000. Pres. Joseph Estrada was accused before the Senate of receiving payola from
jueteng lords. Mr. Pimentel, by virtue of his being then the Senate President, cochaired the impeachment court with Supreme Court Chief Justice Hilarion Davide, Jr. When Pres. Estrada’s allies in the Senate voted against the opening of an envelope generally believed as the “smoking gun” that would prove Mr. Estrada’s guilt, Mr. Pimentel resigned as chair of the impeachment court to manifest his disgust at his colleagues’ obsequiousness to the President. That gave rise to People Power II.
Far from the tree the fruit has fallen it may seem. But seen from a different perspective, the fruit does not look like it has fallen far from the tree.
In 2002, Sen. Panfilo Lacson was charged with complicity in drug trafficking and kidnapping for ransom. Three Senate committees — Public Order and Illegal Drugs chaired by Sen. Robert Barbers, National Security and Public Order chaired by Sen. Ramon Magsaysay, Jr., and Blue Ribbon Committee, chaired by Sen. Joker Arroyo — investigated the charges. By June of that year, the chairs of the three committees were ready to release the report on their findings, but some senators resorted to all sorts of tactics to delay the release of the report, which was believed by some knowledgeable quarters as very damaging to Sen. Lacson.
On June 3, opposition senators, confident they had the support of Senators John Osmeña and Ramon Revilla, Sr., gathered in the Senate session hall and called for a reorganization of the Senate. Leading the conspirators to the planned coup and obstruction of justice was Sen. Aquilino “Nene” Pimentel, Jr.
Senators Robert Barbers and Joker Arroyo said that the reorganization of the Senate was to prevent the release of the Senate committee’s report recommending the investigation of Lacson for his complicity in an abduction case. Sen. Barbers, said: “That report has been finished and finalized. That is why they had to make their move to reorganize.” Sen. Arroyo remarked, “With that coup, if the committee chairs are changed, then the Lacson report will not be released. It was a preemptive strike.”
But Sen. John Osmeña, who the plotters had counted on joining them in the call for reorganization, distanced himself from the plotters, and Sen. Revilla did not attend the session, resulting in the failure of the coup plotters to muster the numbers required to control the committees and quash the report.
So, the fruit has not actually fallen far from the tree. Koko the son has a character similar to that of Nene the father. To use another idiomatic expression, Koko is a “chip off the old block” or like father, like son.