President Rodrigo Duterte on Tuesday paid his last respects to his friend and political ally, former Senate President Aquilino Pimentel Jr., who succumbed to lymphoma on Oct. 20 at the age of 85.
Former senators on Wednesday also paid tribute to Pimentel during the necrological services held at the Senate Session Hall.
Duterte headed straight for Pimentel’s wake at the Heritage Memorial Park in Taguig City shortly after he arrived in Manila around 10:33 p.m. on Tuesday from his shortened Japan trip, Presidential Spokesman Salvador Panelo said in a statement.
“Notwithstanding his trip to Japan being cut short due to a searing pain in the spinal pelvic area of his body, the President was able to endure the same and headed from Villamor Air Base in Pasay City to the wake of former Senate President Aquilino “Nene” Pimentel Jr.,” Panelo said.
Ronald Munsayac, spokesman of the Partido Demokratiko Pilipino-Lakas ng Bayan, shared photos of the President visiting the wake.
The late Senate leader’s son, Senator Aquilino Pimentel III, also went live on Facebook to document the President’s arrival in the wake.
Panelo said the President considers the late Senate President as a personal friend who contributed “valuable service to the country as a public servant.”
Pimentel is one of the founders of PDP-Laban whose current president and chairman are his son and President Duterte, respectively.
Pimentel’s remains will be flown to Cagayan de Oro City on Friday and will be returned on Saturday to the Heritage Memorial Park, where he will be laid to rest.
Pimentel served as Senate President from November 2000 to July 2001 and was also a member of the now-defunct Consultative Committee tasked by Duterte to amend the 1987 Constitution to pave the way for the proposed shift to a federal government.
Duterte’s wake visit shows he’s ‘okay’
Duterte had to cut short his supposedly four-day stay in Japan due to an “unbearable” lower back pain.
Duterte immediately flew back to the Philippines after witnessing Emperor Naruhito’s enthronement rites at Imperial Palace in Tokyo on Tuesday afternoon.
Hours prior to his return to the country, Duterte admitted that the back pain he had sustained in a minor motorcycle accident on Oct. 16 was intolerable.
Duterte made the admission on Facebook that was shared by his former special aide and now Senator Christopher Lawrence Go on Tuesday night.
Duterte’s visit to Pimentel’s wake only proved that he was “okay,” Panelo said in an interview with CNN Philippines on Wednesday morning.
“He {Duterte} was able to go to the wake of the late senator Pimentel. He’s okay,” Panelo said.
The Palace official, in a separate statement, also insisted that the public should not worry since the President would consult his neurologist on Wednesday.
He added that the 74-year-old Chief Executive would keep everyone posted about the real status of his health.
