Aquilino Pimentel, Jr.

Aquilino Pimentel, Jr.

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Aquilino Pimentel, Jr.

Aquilino "Nene" Quilinging Pimentel, Jr. (born December 11, 1933) is a Filipino politician. He was first elected as a delegate to the 1971 Constitutional Convention, then was arrested when martial law was declared by President Ferdinand Marcos. In 1980 he was elected as Mayor of Cagayan de Oro City in Misamis Oriental, ousted from the mayoral position by Marcos and reinstated after massive popular demonstrations in 1981, and arrested again in 1982 and 1985. He was elected as an Assemblyman in the Batasang Pambansa (National Assembly), serving from 1984-1986. After the People Power Revolution, he was appointed by President Corazon Aquino as Minister of Local Government and Presidential advisor/chief negotiator with the Muslim insurgents in Mindanao. He then was elected Senator (1987-1992), authoring the seminal Local Government Code. He then launched a bid for the vice presidency in 1992, running under the Liberal Party with Jovito Salonga running for president, finishing fifth among the vice presidential candidates by garnering 9.9% of the vote. He was cheated of victory in the 1995 national elections after running for another term as senator; he took the case to the Supreme Court eventually winning the suit in 2004. In 1998, he ran successfully for another term in the Senate of the Philippines, from 1998-2004. He was also elected as the 19th Senate President, serving from 2000-2001. He was reelected in the May 10, 2004 National Elections attaining the third highest number of votes nationally of nearly 80 candidates for 12 Senate seats.

As chair of the Blue Ribbon Committee, he has recommended the prosecution of top government officials of previous administrations in relation to the Expo Pilipino centennial scam and the misuse of the funds of the Retirement and Separation Benefits Systems of the Armed Forces. He has also recommended the prosecution of certain personnel of the Land Registration Administration for involvement in faking of land titles. Recently his committee also conducted series of investigations into the allegation of Governor Luis ?Chavit? Singson on jueteng scandal. As Chair of the Committee on Local Government, he has supported far-reaching amendments to further strengthen the role of local government units in national development. He has also gotten senate approval to return the police to the supervision of LGUs and has authored a law to fix the date for elections of ARMM officials.

He is the president and founder of the PDP-Laban party. On April 25, 2008, Senator Pimentel authored a bill that would shift the Philippines into a Federal Republic of the Philippines.

Pimentel, Jr. resigned his Minority Leader post on November 17, 2008.^[1]^[2]