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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 because the party embraces radical ideas,” Pimentel, a lawyer, added

 

 

Pimentel first won a Senate seat in the 2007 polls, but he was only proclaimed winner in August 2011 after the Senate Electoral Tribunal ruled in favor of his election protest against Juan Miguel Zubiri.

Pimentel also sought a Senate seat in 2013 and ran on a platform of battling election fraud because of his previous experience. During the campaign, he altered the lyrics of the John Elton hit Imagine by singing, “Imagine there’s no cheating, no dagdag-bawas, too.”

Pimentel finished eighth in the 2013  race with over 14 million votes.

Pimentel has argued in the past that he can run for the Senate for the third consecutive term because the 1987 Constitution only bars a candidate from running for two successive Senate terms which is 12 years.

Because of the case with Zubiri, Pimentel has only been in the Senate for the last seven years.

No complete slate

Meanwhile, Pimentel said the ruling party will not field a complete 12-man Senate slate for the coming midterm polls.

“We will only have six to seven candidates from PDP-Laban. It is up for them [to announce their bid] kasi iyong iba, wala pang desisyon,” he said.

“Actually we can have two slates pero 'yung iba diniscourage ng party leaders because we felt it is not yet their time. We don't want our young leaders to start with an election loss,” he added.

Pimentel also said that the slate won’t be filled in full to allow President Rodrigo Duterte to accommodate “personal commitments.”

Duterte chairs PDP-Laban, but his daughter and Davao City Mayor Sara Duterte, heads the regional party Hugpong ng Pagbabago which has forged an alliance with three national political parties — Nacionalista Party, Nationalist People’s Coalition and National Union Party and six other local parties.

Hugpong ng Pagbabago has endorsed two Senate slates: one for the national level and one for Davao Region.

Hugpong only endorsed three PDP-Laban bets, namely: Bureau of Corrections chief Ronald dela Rosa, presidential political adviser Francis Tolentino, Representative Zajid Mangudadatu of Maguindanao and Pimentel.  — BAP/RSJ, GMA News

 

 

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