Senate Minority Leader Aquilino “Koko” Pimentel III on Sunday said he is open to leading a special subcommittee that will focus on drafting rules for the impending impeachment of Vice President Sara Duterte.
Pimentel, who has been actively calling on the Senate leadership to abide by the Constitution and act on the impeachment complaint against Duterte, said he is willing to take on the task should he receive the official assignment.
“No problem. There are only five of us lawyers in the Senate right now, so there might not be any other choice,” he said in a text message to reporters.
“I’ll wait for the official assignment first, then I’ll discuss it with my staff. But just like Sen. Tol, I am also a candidate, but I am willing to devote time to our duty,” he added.
Senator Francis “Tol” Tolentino on Friday said he is willing to let Pimentel lead the special subcommittee tasked with drafting rules for Duterte’s impeachment, a responsibility that was originally assigned to him as chair of the Senate Committee on Rules.
“I will defer to the wisdom of the Senate President. Secondly, I consider the impeachment process very divisive. Thirdly, if Senator Koko is in a hurry to draft new rules, then he should do it,” he said in a chance interview on the sidelines of the Alyansa para sa Bagong Pilipinas campaign.
A former Duterte ally, Tolentino resigned as a party officer and member of the once-ruling Partido Demokratiko Pilipino Lakas ng Bayan (PDP Laban) last August, less than two months before filing his candidacy for the May midterm elections.
Although he declared himself an independent candidate, he is now seeking reelection under the Marcos administration’s senatorial ticket.
Pimentel, on the other hand, is locked in a legal battle with former President Rodrigo Duterte on who has the right to the party name PDP Laban, which now has two factions pitting the two men against each other.