No plans to oust Pimentel, says Senate minority

The Senate minority group assured yesterday that there are no plans to unseat Senate President Aquilino “Koko” Pimentel III.

Sen. Francis “Kiko’’ Pangilinan gave this assurance after seven senators, including Pimentel, protested on the Senate floor last Wednesday what one of them described as the “prostitution” of a Senate resolution that they did not sign and that asked the government to stop the spate of extra-judicial killings (EJKs) in the country, especially children.

The minority is composed of Pangilinan, who is president of the opposition Liberal Party (LP), and Senators Franklin Drilon, Paolo Benigno “Bam” Aquino IV, Ralph G. Recto, Leila de Lima, Antonio F. Trillanes IV, and Risa Hontiveros.

The resolution, signed by 16 senators led by Pangilinan and Drillon, urged the government to undertake the necessary steps to stop the spate of killings, especially, children and to determine the institutional reasons, if any, that rise to such killings.

Social media lambasted Pimentel and six other senators – Vicente Sotto III, Richard J. Gordon, Cynthia A. Villar, Juan Miguel Zubiri, Gregorio B. Honasan II and Emmanuel Pacquiao – because of their perceived closeness to the Duterte administration and not taking a stand against EJKs.

The seven senators protested because they claimed they did not see nor were shown the proposed resolution for them to sign.

Pangilinan stressed that their group did not select who among their colleagues will sign the resolution.

In a radio interview yesterday, Pimentel said Senate Resolution No. 516 signed by the 16 senators led by the minority group that expressed their concern on the spate of killings has nothing to do with the Senate leadership and has no political color.

Social media blogs blasted Pimentel as an alleged mouthpiece of the Duterte administration, being the president of the PDP-Laban party which counts the President as its member. He is the lone PD PLaban member in the 24-seat Senate.