THE Senate and the Constitutional Commission (Con-com), two institutions where he best left his mark in public service beyond his immortal image as defender of democracy, deeply mourned on Sunday is the passing of former Senate President Aquilino “Nene” Pimentel Jr.
Senate President Pro Tempore Ralph Recto recalled Pimentel’s “courage of conviction” in a statement hours after Pimentel succumbed to complications of lymphoma at age 85.
“While others sought comfort in numbers, Nene drew strength from his conviction,” Recto said, recalling Pimentel as “a maverick who could not resist a good fight, many of which by his lonesome, for he believed that one man with courage was enough to make a majority.”
Recto noted that Pimentel, who rose to fame as Cagayan de Oro’s fighting mayor but held national office after the 1986 Edsa Revolt, “paid dearly for being true to his principles and to his people.
“He spent years in prison for fighting for the freedoms which were taken from the people he loved,” Recto said, adding that later, “his incurable independent streak lost him the chance to acquire greater power, for he refused to compromise the values he never sold.”
Beyond dissent: Great builder
Still, Recto said “it would be wrong to paint” Pimentel “solely as a great dissenter” because he was “also a great builder—of local autonomy, of just peace among a people fatigued of war, of grassroots democracy, of Mindanao development, of ethics in public service.”
Pimentel is best remembered as the father of the Local Government Code, Malacañang said in a statement, referring to the 1991 landmark legislation that Pimentel championed against all odds—a game-changing shift in governance that most people hail for empowering local governments, but occasionally drawing flak for providing the avenues for their occasional abuse.
Pimentel, Recto stressed, was “able to notch an impressive scorecard of laws because he had the courage to speak and the wisdom to listen. Nene was a sensei to many legislators in that bygone era when true grit was measured by hard work and not by likes, shares and followers. The republic is diminished by the death of this great patriot.”
Sen. Panfilo Lacson recalled it was Pimentel, then serving as minority leader, who prompted him to respond to “the massive vitriolic attacks on my honor and dignity as a newly elected senator in 2001.”
It was, Lacson said, “my first baptism of dirty politics as the newly installed administration under then-President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo unleashed Angelo ‘Ador’ Mawanay and several other peddlers of lies and black propaganda to portray me as the biggest narcopolitician, money launderer and criminal offender that ever set foot in the halls of Congress.”
Lacson recalled Nene’s advice: “Ping, sagutin mo yung mga akusasyon ng administrasyon. Marami nang naniniwala [Answer the allegations, Ping, because many are starting to believe them].” Heeding Pimentel’s advice, Lacson delivered his first privilege speech, “In Defense of My Honor and Dignity” on August 7, 2001.
For his part, Sen. Juan Edgardo Angara saw Pimentel as “a Filipino who did not go gently into the night—whether it was during martial law or after he retired from the Senate.”
Angara said Pimentel Jr. “was as good in opposing abuses as he was in proposing solutions to the problems of the State,” recalling that the former Senate leader also “authored many laws which became disruptors for the greater good, like giving powers to the local government, land to the tiller and military bases to their rightful owner.” The last is in reference to Pimentel’s role as one of 12 senators who voted against extending the US military bases treaty in September 1991.
Senators Risa Hontiveros and Grace Poe, likewise, expressed grief over Pimentel’s passing.
“Today, our country lost a truly great man,” Hontiveros said. “Ka Nene Pimentel is not only one of our most experienced and accomplished civil servants, he is also one of the greatest defenders of freedom and democracy in the history of our country. And his greatness was only eclipsed by his love for this nation and its people. My sincerest condolences go out to the Pimentel family and to my college mate and colleague, Sen. Koko Pimentel.”
Poe, in a separate statement, recalled ex-Senate President Pimentel Jr. as “a principled leader, patriot, statesman. Senator Nene always kept watch and put himself on the line for the sake of the Filipino people. Our heartfelt prayers are with his family.”
Con-com mourns
The Consultative Committee to Review the 1987 Constitution, where Pimentel was counted among the most reliable members, also grieved over his passing. Con-com chairman, former Chief Justice Reynato Puno, said: “The best tribute we can give to Nene is to work harder for federalism …his last advocacy for a better Philippines. It is not a coincidence that on October 26, we are going to Cagayan de Oro, his home province, to push for federalism. Nene will always be with us even if he is now in the embrace of the Lord.”
The members and staff of the Consultative Committee to Review the 1987 Constitution called him “a stalwart of federalism and one of the crafters of the Con-com draft Bayanihan federalism constitution.”
It is no coincidence, added the Con-com, “that Senator Pimentel began his career in government and his service to the nation as one of the young delegates to the 1971 Constitutional Convention — and capped it with a memorable stint as a member and vice chairman of the Consultative Committee that drafted the Bayanihan Federalism Constitution.”
Sad day—Palace
Chief Presidential Legal Counsel and Presidential Spokesman Salvador S. Panelo said: “Today is a sad day for the nation. The Palace joins the Filipino people in mourning the demise of former Senate President Aquilino Pimentel Jr. and expressing condolences to his family, loved ones, colleagues and friends.”
Pimentel, principal author of the Local Government Code and advocate of federalism, was also thanked by the Palace for his participation in the Consultative Committee by President Duterte to review the 1987 Constitution and propose a federal substitute.
“As the acknowledged father of the Local Government Code, former Senator Pimentel gave his wisdom and lent his voice to the need to empower local governments. The Duterte administration is grateful for the elder Pimentel for joining the current government as one of the members of the Consultative Committee tasked by President Rodrigo Roa Duterte to review the 1987 Constitution and draft a new charter that would pave the way for a federal form of government,” Panelo said.
Pimentel was one of the staunchest critics of the Marcos dictatorship, and was imprisoned for protesting martial law. In 1983 he founded the Partido Demokratiko Pilipino-Lakas ng Bayan, popularly known as PDP-Laban, to fight the late dictator’s rule.
Speaker Alan Peter Cayetano said in a statement, “Filipinos here and around the world join us in thanking the outstanding senator in his long-standing service to the country guided by his steadfast integrity and nationalism…. On a personal note, having personally worked with him in the Senate, I am witness to his professionalism and his commitment to duties. He is one of the inspiring examples to me and all our public servants.”
Butch Fernandez, Elijah E. Felice Rosales, Jovee Marie N. dela Cruz
Image credits: Alternativity, Alysa Salen, King Rodriguez/Presidential Photo