MANILA, Philippines – The Liberal Party has distanced itself from reports about alleged moves to oust Aquilino “Koko” Pimentel III as Senate president.
“If there are moves to oust Koko as Senate president, we want to disassociate ourselves from that. We are not behind any such effort,” LP president Sen. Francis “Kiko” Pangilinan said in statement issued Thursday, May 18.
“Events have helped define and consolidate our position as a credible check-and-balance to the administration which is necessary in a democracy,” Pangilinan added.
Also, the lawmaker belied a news report that party members had allegedly left the LP because of “absence of leadership.”
“It’s more the opposite: They are leaving LP because of the presence of leadership now speaking out against a number of policies of the administration, such as the position against the death penalty, extra-judicial killings, etc,” said Pangilinan.
“And these critical views also impact on the politics on the ground, as supporters of a very powerful and very popular administration paint the Liberal Party a yellow demon responsible for all of society’s ills,” he added.
The senator admitted that rebuilding LP amid the exodus of its politician-members was “hard.” He said what “makes it harder” was “doing so with half-truths thrown your way.”
“As we observed on our think piece “Redefining the Liberal Party,” truth – the foundation of justice and peace, and informed personal decisions and public policies – is under siege.”
“And our weapon in this our post-truth, volatile, and complex world of trolls, fake news, and lies? A clear and convincing vision of the future, with the truth told a thousand times.”