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Aquilino Q. Pimentel, Jr. (born December 11, 1933) also known as Nene is a Philippine political figure. He was first elected as
a delegate to the 1971 Constitutional Convention, then went into exile when martial law was declared by President Ferdinand
Marcos. He came back in 1980 and was elected as Mayor of Cagayan de Oro city in Misamis Oriental,
ousted in 1982, reinstated in 1984. He was elected as
an Assemblyman in the Batasang Pambansa (National Assembly), serving from 1984-1986. After the EDSA Revolution, he was
appointed by President Corazon Aquino as Minister of Local Government
and Presidential advisor/chief negotiator with the Muslim insurgents in Mindanao. He then was elected Senator (1987-1992), authoring the seminal Local Government Code. He
then launched a bid for the vice presidency in 1992, running under the Liberal Party with
Jovito Salonga running for
president, finishing fifth among the vice presidential candidates by garnering 9.9% of the vote. He was cheated of victory in the
1995 national elections after running for another term as senator; he took the case to the
Supreme Court eventually winning the suit in 2004. In 1998, he ran successfully for another term in the Senate of the Philippines, from 1998-2004. He was also elected as the 19th Senate President, serving from 2000-2001. Most recently he won another
seat in the Senate in the recently-concluded May 10 National Elections.
As chair of the Blue Ribbon Committee, he has recommended the prosecution of top government officials of previous
administrations in relation to the Expo Pilipino centennial scam and the misuse of the funds of the Retirement and Separation
Benefits Systems of the Armed Forces. He has also recommended the prosecution of certain personnel of the Land Registration
Administration for involvement in faking of land titles. Recently his committee also conducted series of investigations into the
allegation of Governor Luis “Chavit” Singson on jueteng scandal. As Chair of the Committee on Local Government, he
has supported far-reaching amendments to further strengthen the role of local government units in national development. He has
also gotten senate approval to return the police to the supervision of LGUs and has authored a law to fix the date for elections
of ARMM officials.
He is the president and founder of the PDP-Laban party.
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