Koko Pimentel first to file COC
Senator Aquilino “Koko” Pimentel III was the first to file his certificate of candidacy for another six-year term in the Senate under the ruling PDP-Laban.
Pimentel, son of former Senate President Aquilino Pimentel Jr., filed his COC with his fiancée, Kathryn Yu, with the Commission on Elections at 8 a.m. sharp. Both wore red shirts.
“Ikakasal kasi ako next week, kaya maaga [ako],” Pimentel, the president of PDP-Laban, said.
Pimentel then urged his fellow party-mates to wear red when they file their respective COCs.
“Wear red in light of the fact that the gathering grasps radical thoughts,” Pimentel, a legal counselor, included
Pimentel originally won a Senate situate in the 2007 surveys, yet he was just announced victor in August 2011
after the Senate Electoral Tribunal decided for his decision challenge Juan Miguel Zubiri.
Pimentel likewise looked for a Senate situate in 2013 and kept running on a stage of fighting decision extortion
due to his past experience. Amid the crusade, he modified the verses of the John Elton hit Imagine by singing,
“Envision there’s no swindling, no dagdag-bawas, as well.”
Pimentel completed eighth in the 2013 race with more than 14 million votes.
Pimentel has contended in the past that he can keep running for the Senate for the third back to back term on the grounds that the 1987 Constitution just banishes a competitor from running for two progressive Senate terms which is 12 years.
As a result of the case with Zubiri, Pimentel has just been in the Senate throughout the previous seven years.
No total slate
In the interim, Pimentel said the decision gathering won’t handle an entire 12-man Senate slate for the coming midterm surveys.
“We will just have six to seven hopefuls from PDP-Laban. It is up for them [to report their bid] kasi iyong iba, wala ache desisyon,” he said.
“As a matter of fact we can have two slates pero ‘yung iba diniscourage ng party pioneers since we felt it isn’t yet their chance. We don’t need our young pioneers to begin with a decision misfortune,” he included.
Pimentel likewise said that the slate won’t be filled in full to permit President Rodrigo Duterte to suit “individual duties.”
Duterte seats PDP-Laban, however his girl and Davao City Mayor Sara Duterte, heads the provincial party Hugpong ng Pagbabago which has produced a partnership with three national political gatherings — Nacionalista Party, Nationalist People’s Coalition and National Union Party and six other neighborhood parties.
Hugpong ng Pagbabago has embraced two Senate slates: one for the national level and one for Davao Region.
Hugpong just embraced three PDP-Laban wagers, specifically: Bureau of Corrections boss Ronald dela Rosa, presidential political guide Francis Tolentino, Representative Zajid Mangudadatu of Maguindanao and Pimentel.
