1. Koko Pimentel has been a Senator since 2011 and previously served as the Senate President of the Philippines from 2016 to 2018.
36 Facts About Koko Pimentel
1. 2.
Koko Pimentel was sworn in on August 12,2011, and was proclaimed as the 12th winning senator in the 2007 election.
3.
Koko Pimentel was one of the high-ranking public officials who drew flak for breaching the COVID-19 quarantine protocols.
4.
Aquilino Martin de la Llana Koko Pimentel III was born on January 20,1964, in Cagayan de Oro, Philippines.
5.
Koko Pimentel's father was a lawyer and dean of law at Xavier University at the time of his birth.
6.
Koko 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.
7.
Koko Pimentel topped the 1990 Philippine Bar Examinations with a score of 89.85 percent.
8.
Koko Pimentel was commissioner on the National Youth Commission from 1995 to 1998.
9.
Koko Pimentel was conferred Doctor of Humanities honoris causa by the Polytechnic University of the Philippines on May 18,2012.
10.
Koko Pimentel ran for Cagayan de Oro city mayor in the 2001 elections but lost to Vicente Emano.
11.
The narrow margin of 18,372 votes was controversial, particularly the votes from the southern Philippine province of Maguindanao, where Koko Pimentel had lost heavily to Zubiri.
12.
On July 14,2007, Koko Pimentel filed an electoral protest to the Senate Electoral Tribunal.
13.
Koko Pimentel was included in the United Nationalist Alliance coalition's shortlist of senatorial candidates for the 2013 election.
14.
However, citing UNA's senatorial slate now having more than twelve members and the inclusion of his longtime political rival, Migz Zubiri, Koko Pimentel officially declined his spot in the UNA coalition on June 28,2012.
15.
Koko Pimentel was elected to the Senate of the Philippines, placing eighth with 14,725,114 votes.
16.
On July 25,2016, the opening day of the 17th Congress of the Philippines, Koko Pimentel was elected as Senate President with 20 out of 23 senators voting in his favor.
17.
Koko Pimentel called the protestors "principled", adding that "they come from the poorest sectors of society and therefore, cannot be labeled as "brats.
18.
In May 2017, Koko Pimentel led 15 senators who supported Proclamation No 216 which placed the whole of Mindanao under Martial Law.
19.
Koko Pimentel led 12 senators who voted against Resolution 390 calling on Congress to convene a joint session to tackle the declaration of martial law in Mindanao.
20.
Koko Pimentel resigned from his position as Senate President on May 21,2018, to focus on his reelection bid in the 2019 election and was succeeded by Majority Leader Tito Sotto.
21.
COMELEC dismissed the petitions in February 2019 as Koko Pimentel did not fully serve his first term as senator.
22.
On March 25,2020, Koko Pimentel announced that he tested positive for coronavirus disease 2019, amid the pandemic in the Philippines.
23.
At the time that Koko Pimentel confirmed his diagnosis, he had visited the Makati Medical Center to accompany his wife.
24.
The Makati Medical Center issued a press release criticizing Koko 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.
25.
On May 2,2020, Koko Pimentel considered himself as a "recovered person" as his staff told him after his sample was tested negative for the SARS-Cov-2, but not yet confirmed by the Department of Health.
26.
Koko Pimentel's complaint was dismissed on February 2021 due to lack of probable cause.
27.
In December 2020, Koko Pimentel nominated Senator Manny Pacquiao as party president.
28.
Duterte later on pinned Koko Pimentel for causing the dispute by naming Pacquiao as party president.
29.
On March 22,2022, the Cusi wing of PDP-Laban endorsed the presidential candidacy of Bongbong Marcos, drawing criticism from Koko Pimentel, who declared that the Cusi wing are "total strangers" to the founding of the PDP-Laban party, which was established as the opposition to the dictatorship of Marcos's father, Ferdnand Marcos Sr.
30.
Koko Pimentel subsequently called on members of the Cusi faction to remember the history and principles of PDP-Laban, stating that in these beliefs, "we cannot possibly endorse Ferdinand Marcos Jr".
31.
On July 25,2022, Koko Pimentel was elected as Senate Minority Floor Leader.
32.
Koko Pimentel is part of the two-member minority bloc in the Senate alongside Risa Hontiveros in the 19th Congress of the Philippines.
33.
Koko Pimentel initially had no intention of running for a local position in Marikina after his Senate term ends in 2025, with him and his wife Kathryna Yu-Koko Pimentel allying in early 2024 with Marikina Mayor Marcelino Teodoro and his wife, 1st District Representative Marjorie Ann Teodoro, to support Kathryna's intended run for lower congress representing the city's first district.
34.
In January 2000, Koko Pimentel married 1998 Miss Universe Philippines Jewel May Lobaton, with whom he has two sons; President Joseph Estrada was their godfather at the wedding.
35.
In May 2013, Koko Pimentel met chef Kathryna Yu of Marikina and they married in October 2018 at the Coconut Palace.
36.
In late 2022, Koko Pimentel returned to Marikina as a resident, where his family had previously resided in since the 1980s.