Senator Aquilino “Koko” Pimentel III, chair of the Senate Blue Ribbon sub-committee investigating the previous administration’s bloody drug war, is feigning helplessness in dealing with former president Rodrigo Duterte’s use of vulgar language during his appearance at the Senate on October 29.

In justifying his failure to cite Duterte in contempt for repeatedly cursing, he said in an interview that the sub-committee “realized” that it had no power to cite resource persons in contempt. Pimentel is hardly a neophyte senator, and it perhaps may come as a surprise to many that he is, well, surprised at the belated realization that he, as chair, is powerless to deal with intractable guests like the former president. 

Or maybe not.

In his typical roundabout way, Senate President Francis Escudero conveyed his displeasure at the former president’s use of coarse language inside the hallowed halls of his chamber, a situation similar to an invited guest who cursed and spat all over your house while indulging in undeserved hospitality. The message should not be lost on Pimentel: don’t let it happen again.

To deal with similar behavior in the future, and to placate the scandalized Senator Risa Hontiveros who floated the contempt option, Pimentel said they would need to amend the rules of the sub-committee to give it the same contempt power reserved for the mother committee. But that is after the fact. The deed has been done and the unruly guest may no longer be invited.

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Here we have Pimentel engaging in legal contortions and resorting to selective memory. 

Awed or intimidated?

In 2015, a similar Blue Ribbon subcommittee which he chaired cited former Makati mayor Junjun Binay and five others in contempt for supposedly failing to attend several hearings.  Binay was arrested by the Senate sergeant-at-arms and brought to the chamber.

It was Pimentel who had recommended the contempt citation, which was approved by then Blue Ribbon chair Teofisto Guingona III.  

So clearly there is an option available to Pimentel. 

But he seemingly downplayed that option, or refused to invoke it, possibly because one, he doesn’t want to put the Blue Ribbon chair, the re-electionist Senator Pia Cayetano, sister of Duterte diehard Senator Alan Peter Cayetano, on the spot; and second, despite everything Duterte has done to his father’s party, the once venerable PDP-Laban, he is still awed or intimidated by Duterte.

This is not the first time Pimentel has resorted to his occasional legal acumen to justify an intolerable act, occasional in the sense that it does not stand on unshakable principles but varies depending on the occasion. 

In 2020, at the height of the COVID-19 lockdown, Pimentel was castigated by the Makati Medical Center for breaking his home quarantine (he was at that time exhibiting COVID-19 symptoms) when he accompanied his pregnant wife to the hospital. The MMC called his actions “reckless and unacceptable.”

Rather than apologize, Pimentel justified his behavior by saying his visit to the hospital should be considered “essential” movement, therefore allowed under the guidelines set by government. Occasional legal acumen right there. 

As the senator tasked to oversee an investigation into a politically-charged issue, and with a disruptive former president as one of the guests, Pimentel was expected to run a tight ship during last week’s hearing, asserting not only his authority as chair but the authority of the institution he represents. As such, there should have been little leeway given, not even to a former president, for abusive behavior. 

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Yet, Duterte was allowed to place his arrogance and coarseness on display before a partisan crowd in the gallery, and a cheering squad on the floor who call themselves solons. As in the past, Duterte and his cohorts displayed the cocksure demeanor of powerful individuals exempted from the rules that the rest of us are obligated to observe. And Pimentel just sat there in his chair.

What does this show? That senators can be politically selective in applying the rules of their own chamber. They can be rough and aggressive with some resource persons, or tolerant if not fawning with others. They can throw the book at some, and conveniently waive the rules for others.

The Senate hearing only reinforced the perception that the powerful and the connected, yes, even a former president with a dwindling power base, belong to the chosen few who can depend on each to look the other way. – Rappler.com

Joey Salgado is a former journalist, and a government and political communications practitioner. He served as spokesperson for former vice president Jejomar Binay.