Aquilino Pimentel Jr.

On October 14, 2019, Pimentel was admitted to the intensive care unit of an undisclosed hospital in Metro Manila. His daughter, Gwendolyn, reported that he was experiencing difficulty in breathing due to pneumonia. A family statement described that Pimentel was "very ill".

The following year, Koko was proclaimed senator after Juan Miguel Zubiri resigned from the Senate. He got his full term in 2013 under Team PNoy. He then served as Senate President from 2016 to 2018. Nene supported President Rodrigo Duterte during the election campaign.

Nene Pimentel left office on June 30, 2010, after serving three Senate terms and briefly as Senate President.

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.

His son Aquilino "Koko" Pimentel III ran for Senator in 2007. In 2010, his daughter Gwen made a senatorial race attempt under the Nacionalista Party coalition and a member of the PDP–Laban.

He was re-elected in the May 10, 2004 National Elections attaining the third highest number of votes nationally of nearly 80 candidates for 12 Senate seats.

In October 2000 Senate President Franklin Drilon issued a statement about the Juetengate scandal of President Joseph Estrada. Drilon was removed as Senate President the next month through a Senate revamp and Pimentel was installed as Senate President. In December 2000, an impeachment case was filed on the Senate. On January 16, 2001, Pimentel was one of those who voted in favor of the opening of the second bank envelope. Their vote was outnumbered and some of the opposition senators cried in front of Senate President Pimentel. Joseph Estrada was ousted in January by the second EDSA People Power Revolution, but he was pardoned by his successor, Gloria Macapagal Arroyo on October 26, 2007. Pimentel occupied the Senate presidency until the end of the regular session in June 2001. As he explained his vote to open he declared: .mw-parser-output .templatequote{overflow:hidden;margin:1em 0;padding:0 40px}.mw-parser-output .templatequote .templatequotecite{line-height:1.5em;text-align:left;padding-left:1.6em;margin-top:0}

In 1998, he ran successfully for another term in the Senate of the Philippines, from 1998 to 2004. Along with Edgardo Angara and Juan Ponce Enrile, Pimentel is one of the three senators elected in 1987 to return to the Senate.

He was defeated in the 1995 national elections after running for another term for the Senate placing on number 15. He then took the case to the Supreme Court eventually winning the suit in 2004.

He then launched a bid for the vice presidency in 1992, running under the Liberal Party-PDP–Laban Coalition with Jovito Salonga running for president, finishing fifth among the vice presidential candidates by garnering 9.9% of the vote.

On November 24, 1990, Pimentel was riding a six-seater plane to Naga City to deliver a speech on the proposed Local Government Code when an engine malfunctioned during the plane's descent in stormy weather, but the pilot, Capt. Edgardo Lopez, was able to maneuver around a mountain and land safely at Naga Airport. On September 16, 1991, Nene Pimentel was among the "Magnificent 12" senators who voted against the extension of the PH-US Bases Treaty.

He then was elected Senator (1987–1992), authoring the seminal Local Government Code of 1991. As Senator, he authored and sponsored several key pieces of legislation, among them the Local Government Code of 1991, the Cooperative Code, the Philippine Sports Commission Act, the Act Creating the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao, and the People's Small-Scale Mining Act. He also authored and co-sponsored the Generic Drugs Act and the Act Establishing the Philippine Police under a Reorganized Department of Interior and Local Government.

The feisty Pimentel, a relentless critic of the Marcos regime, was often seen with Ninoy's widow, Cory, as they rallied the opposition. At one point, Cory asked him to be her running mate in the 1986 Philippine presidential election and he agreed. However, when Cardinal Jaime Sin brokered a political marriage between Cory and Salvador "Doy" Laurel Jr., Pimentel graciously stepped aside and let history run its course.

In 1983, while he was in Cebu City, Pimentel was arrested on charges of rebellion and was detained. He had allegedly given P100 to New People's Army commander. Bing Pimentel recalled it was horrible time as the family did not know where he was. They traced him to Camp Sergio Osmeña and later to Camp Cabahug in the City of Cebu. Even as he was held in the military detention centers, his followers from Cagayan De Oro and other parts of the country visited him by the hundreds to boost his morale and keep his spirits high.

Then, in the aftermath of the assassination of Marcos's chief rival, Benigno "Ninoy" Aquino Jr. in 1983, Pimentel won a seat in the 1984 Philippine parliamentary election, but the Marcos government ousted him on the allegation that he had cheated in the elections. The Supreme Court itself recounted the ballots in an electoral contest.

Pimentel was not to govern his city unhindered. In 1981, while he was on a five-week training course in the United States, the COMELEC ousted him for "political turncoatism", installing the KBL candidate as mayor. The COMELEC cited Pimentel for switching from Laban in April 1978 to the Narional Union for Democracy and Freedom in December 1979 and then running as candidate of the Mindanao Alliance in January 1980.

Pimentel's second stint in prison did not silence him. In fact, it strengthened his resolve to fight for freedom and to oppose electoral fraud. Ever the parliamentarian, he brought the battle from the streets to the polls in January 1980 when Marcos allowed local elections.

In April 1978, Pimentel ran for a post in the Interim Batasan elections as an official candidate of the Laban party of Metro Manila with Benigno S. Aquino Jr. Members of Marcos' KBL party swept the seats. Pimentel and other opposition leaders like Senator Lorenzo Tañada, Francisco Soc Rodrigo, Tito Guingona, Archie Intengan SJ, and Chino Roces loudly protested the defeat of all opposition candidates and denounced the massive cheating that had taken place. Pimentel was one of those arrested for leading a demonstration against what he termed farcical elections. He had spoken out against Marcos' bid to produce a rubber stamp legislature to win legitimacy for his iron-fisted regime which was increasingly being criticized here and abroad. Pimentel was jailed for two months in Camp Bicutan, Metro Manila.

In 1971, Pimentel rose to national prominence as an elected delegate to the Constitutional Convention of 1971, representing Misamis Oriental. The nature of the Constitutional Convention changed when then-President Ferdinand Marcos declared martial law on September 21, 1972. Pimentel and a few like-minded delegates feared the Constitutional Convention would produce a Marcos-scripted Constitution and were vocal in their opposition. Pimentel also protested certain provisions as being contrary to the people's interest. In the subsequent roundup of those who opposed Marcos, he was arrested in early 1973 and jailed for three months at Camp Crame. Pimentel, who had a young family, bade his wife Bing "Be brave. Don’t cry," and submitted to the incarceration. He was released from prison in time for the signing of the Constitution. Along with a few other delegates, Pimentel refused to sign the Constitution.

Aquilino Quilinging Pimentel Jr. (Tagalog pronunciation: [pimenˈtel], December 11, 1933 – October 20, 2019), commonly known as Nene Pimentel, was a Filipino politician and human rights lawyer who was one of the leading political opposition leaders during the regime of Ferdinand Marcos from the declaration of martial law in 1972 until the People Power Revolution in 1986, which removed Marcos from power. He co-founded the Partido Demokratiko Pilipino–Lakas ng Bayan (PDP–Laban) and served as the President of the Senate of the Philippines from 2000 to 2001. He is the father of incumbent senator and former Senate President Aquilino Pimentel III. In 2018, Pimentel was identified by the Human Rights Victims' Claims Board as a Motu Proprio human rights violations victim of the Martial Law Era.

Nene Pimentel was born on December 11, 1933, to Aquilino "Aquio" E. Pimentel Sr. (January 4, 1909–November 8, 1987) and Petra Quilinging (July 27, 1911–May 11, 1956). He married Lourdes "Bing" de la Llana on April 30, 1960, and they had six children, including Aquilino Pimentel III.