Kiko chides Koko: We’re not gov’t puppets to be told what to do

Senator Francis "Kiko" Pangilinan on Tuesday chided Senate President Aquilino "Koko" Pimentel III after the latter challenged Liberal Party (LP) senators to denounce the filing of an impeachment complaint against the President to prove they had no hand in it.

"Who is he to tell us what to do? Hindi lang siya ang halal na senador," Pangilinan, president of the LP, said in a statement.

"Hindi kami ang nasa likod nung impeachment complaint ngunit hindi rin kami mga tutang sunod-sunuran," he added.

Pangilinan noted that they have already been stripped off of committee chairmanships in the Senate and yet are expected to denounce the complaint only to prove that they are not behind it.

"Pimentel et. al. stripped us of our committee chairmanships for not toeing the admin line on extrajudicial killings, the Marcos burial, the Lascañas hearing and the BI hearings and then he expects us to denounce the impeachment proceedings to prove to him we aren't behind the filing of the complaint?" he said.

Pimentel on Monday dared LP senators to denounce Magdalo party-list Rep. Gary Alejano's filing of an impeachment complaint against President Rodrigo Duterte.

Pimentel noted how the LP senators suddenly considered Duterte as one of the "basic problems" of the country that they wanted to focus on.

"All of a sudden, Duterte is a basic problem of the country kaya agree sila sa impeachment? Walang ganunan," Pimentel said in an interview.

"Let them say that it also distracts them, and that they should be concentrating on the problems," he added.

Aside from Pangilinan, the LP senators are Senate Minority Franklin Drilon, and Senators Leila de Lima and Paolo Benigno "Bam" Aquino IV. They are all part of the Senate minority bloc.

Senate President Pro Tempore Ralph Recto, also a member of the LP, is part of the majority bloc.

Source : GMA News