Koko Pimentel

On March 25, 2020, Pimentel announced that he tested positive for the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), amid its pandemic in the Philippines. Earlier on March 12, multiple senators began practicing self-quarantine as a precaution against the virus, and also because one of the resource persons who attended the Senate session on March 5 tested positive for the disease. On March 16, Senator Juan Miguel Zubiri announced that he had tested positive for COVID-19, which marked Pimentel, along with other senators, as “patients under monitoring” (the official designation by the Department of Health, abbreviated as “PUM”). On March 18, Pimentel began to develop symptoms of the disease. Since Pimentel had developed symptoms, he was then labeled as a “person under investigation” (PUI). He took the COVID-19 test on March 20. At the time Pimentel confirmed his diagnosis, he had visited the Makati Medical Center to accompany his wife who was in labor. The Makati Medical Center issued a press release criticizing Pimentel for violating the hospital’s home quarantine protocol, which required PUMs to self-isolate in order to avoid exposing health professionals and other patients to possible infection. On May 2, 2020, Pimentel considered himself as a “recovered person” as his staff told him after his sample was tested negative of coronavirus, but not yet confirmed by the Department of Health.

The National Bureau of Investigation is probing Pimentel over his possible breach of the quarantine protocols. The Department of Justice will issue a subpoena for him regarding the breach sometime in mid-April 2020. Former dean, lawyer Rico Quicho filed a complaint against the senator for allegedly violating Republic Act No. 11332.

On July 25, 2016, the opening day of the 17th Congress of the Philippines, Pimentel was elected as Senate President with 20 out of 23 senators voting in his favor. He, along with his father Aquilino Pimentel Jr., is the only father-and-son tandem being elected as Senate President in Philippine History (the elder Pimentel served as Senate President from November 13, 2000 to July 23, 2001). Pimentel resigned on May 21, 2018, in order to focus on his reelection bid in the 2019 and is succeeded by Majority Leader Tito Sotto.

His sister, Gwendolyn Pimentel-Gana was appointed in 2015 as a commissioner of the Commission on Human Rights.

Claiming fraudulent votes in 22 municipalities of Maguindanao, 7 in Lanao del Norte, 3 in Shariff Kabunsuan, 2 in Basilan, 2 in Sultan Kudarat, 4 in Lanao del Sur, and 4 in Sulu, Pimentel petitioned the Supreme Court to issue a restraining order against the proclamation of Zubiri. With the vote tied at 7–7, the Supreme Court dismissed Pimentel’s petition. But then-Chief Justice Reynato Puno was among the seven justices who favored Pimentel’s petition.

In May 2013, Pimentel met chef Kathryna Yu, and they married in October 2018 at the Coconut Palace. Supreme Court Associate Justice Antonio Carpio officiated the wedding, while President Rodrigo Duterte, Secretary Bong Go, Senate President Tito Sotto, Senator Manny Pacquiao and former House Speaker Pantaleon Alvarez were principal sponsors. Yu currently heads PDP Cares, the humanitarian arm of PDP-Laban. During his first wedding anniversary with Yu, Pimentel announced that they were expecting their first child together.

Pimentel began working as a lawyer in 1990, and was commissioner (representing Mindanao) on the National Youth Commission from 1995 to 1998. He was a professor for the University of the East College of Law from 2007 to 2010 and also for the MBA-JD Program of the Ramon V. del Rosario College of Business and Far Eastern University Institute of Law from 2006 until his election to the senate in August 2011. He was conferred Doctor of Humanities honoris causa by the Polytechnic University of the Philippines on May 18, 2012.

Pimentel was included in the United Nationalist Alliance (UNA) coalition’s shortlist of senatorial candidates for the 2013 election. However, citing UNA’s senatorial slate now having more than twelve members and the inclusion of his longtime political rival, Juan Miguel Zubiri, Pimentel officially declined his spot in the UNA coalition on June 28, 2012. Instead, Pimentel ran under the Team PNoy coalition, composed mostly of supporters of then-President Benigno Aquino III. Pimentel was elected to the Senate of the Philippines, placing eighth with 14,725,114 votes.

On July 2011, former Maguindanao election supervisor Lintang Bedol and suspended Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao governor Zaldy Ampatuan revealed that there was massive election fraud during the 2007 election.

On August 11, 2011, the Senate Electoral Tribunal released the final tally: Pimentel got 10,898,786 votes while Zubiri got 10,640,620. Prior to this, on August 3, 2011, Zubiri resigned from the Senate; however, he reiterated that he was not involved in the 2007 electoral fraud.

On August 11, 2011, Pimentel was proclaimed by the Senate Electoral Tribunal as the rightful winner of the 12th senate seat. In August 12, Pimentel took his oath of office before his supporters in Mati, Davao Oriental, where he received a high number of votes.

Running in only his second race in the May 14, 2007 senatorial elections, Pimentel was narrowly defeated by Bukidnon Congressman Miguel Zubiri for the 12th and last slot in the Philippine Senate. The narrow margin of 18,372 votes was controversial, particularly the votes from the southern Philippine province of Maguindanao, where Pimentel had lost heavily to Zubiri.

In Philippine senatorial elections, the twelve candidates with the highest number of votes nationwide are elected. In the 2007 elections, Pimentel (Genuine Opposition) and Juan Miguel Zubiri (TEAM Unity) contested the 12th seat.

In the final tally for the 2007 senatorial elections by the Commission on Elections (COMELEC), Zubiri narrowly defeated Pimentel for the 12th and last seat in the Senate. Zubiri had a total of 11,005,866 votes against Pimentel’s 10,984,347 votes. On July 14, 2007, Zubiri was proclaimed as the 12th winning senator.

On July 14, 2007, Pimentel filed an electoral protest to the Senate Electoral Tribunal (SET). After finding grounds for a recount, the SET proceeded with the protest.

Pimentel ran for Cagayan de Oro City mayor in the 2001 elections but lost to Vicente Emano.

In January 2000, Pimentel married 1998 Miss Universe Philippines Jewel May Lobaton, with whom he has two sons. Lobaton is a distant cousin of fellow senator Juan Miguel Zubiri, who happens to be Pimentel’s political rival. Pimentel and Lobaton have been living separately since November 2011. They officially separated in May 2012.

Pimentel earned his Bachelor of Science degree in Mathematics from Ateneo de Manila University and his Bachelor of Laws from University of the Philippines College of Law. He topped the 1990 Philippine Bar Examinations with a score of 89.85 percent.

Aquilino Martin de la Llana Pimentel III (born January 20, 1964), commonly known as Koko Pimentel, is a Filipino politician and lawyer currently serving as a Senator of the Philippines. He was the 28th Senate President of the Philippines from 2016 to 2018. He is also the current party president of Partido Demokratiko Pilipino–Lakas ng Bayan (PDP–Laban). As the eldest son and third child of the former Senate President Aquilino Pimentel Jr., he is the first child of a previous Senate president to hold the office. He was sworn in on August 12, 2011 and was proclaimed as the 12th winning senator in the 2007 election.

Aquilino Martin de la Llana Pimentel III was born on January 20, 1964 in Cagayan de Oro, Philippines. His parents are Aquilino Pimentel, Jr. and Lourdes de la Llana-Pimentel. His father was a lawyer and dean of law at Xavier University at the time of his birth. The elder Pimentel eventually became a senator.