‘Oust Koko’ plot figment of Trillanes’ imagination—Cayetano

‘Oust Koko’ plot figment of Trillanes’ imagination—Cayetano (Photo: Alan Peter Cayetano/Facebook)

MANILA—Sen. Alan Peter Cayetano on Friday denied allegations of Sen. Antonio “Sonny” Trillanes IV that he is behind a plot to oust Senate President Aquilino “Koko” Pimentel III and replace him as head of the Senate.

“It’s a figment of the imagination of Sen. Trillanes. I don’t have any plans to get the leadership,” Cayetano said in a press conference in BGC, Taguig.

Cayetano said that aside from the fact that Pimentel is trusted by senators and Pres. Rodrigo Duterte himself, he explained that he has “too much work”.

“If Sen. Koko doing a good job? Yes. If perfect? No,” Cayetano said stressing that it was too early to judge his colleague.

“Even if I do get to be Senate President, I have too much work that pulls me out of the Senate,” he added.

Cayetano earlier said that he would gladly accept any assignment offered to him by Pres. Duterte and serve him “in any capacity”.

Last December, Pres. Duterte said in an interview that he will be appointing his former running mate and vice presidential bet as Secretary of the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA).

Meanwhile, the senator said the public should “expect weekly intrigues” from Trillanes.

He also slammed his colleague for claiming that he was hungry for power and challenged him to resign if he himself was not.

“(Trillanes) is making it look like I’m hungry for power. I can prove I’m not hungry for power by leaving the Senate now. Can he do the same?”

To recall, Trillanes claimed Cayetano was leading some senators in the majority bloc in a plot to oust Pimentel which stemmed after debates of which senate committee should lead investigation into the reported bribery scandal involving some officials of the Bureau of Immigration (BI) which happen to be fraternity brother of Pres. Rodrigo Duterte.

The Senate on Wednesday agreed to allow two Senate committees hold separate inquiries into the possible overhaul of the BI and the reported scandal.

Senate Majority Leader Vicente “Tito” Sotto III, who is also chair of the Senate Committee on Rules, moved to refer the resolution of Senate Pres. Pro-Tempore Franklin Drilon, SRN 256, to the Senate Committee on Civil Service Government Reorganization and Professional Regulation and the Senate Committee on Justice and Human Rights.

The Civil Service Committee is chaired by Sen. Antonio “Sonny” Trillanes IV while the Justice Committee is chaired by Sen. Richard “Dick” Gordon. hhh

On Tuesday (January 17), Trillanes and Sen. Juan Miguel “Migz” Zubiri had a heated exchange in the Senate after the former claimed that the latter was “whitewashing” the proposed Senate probe into the bribery scandal.

Zubiri insisted that the probe should be conducted by Gordon’s committee.

Chinese businessman Jack Lam allegedly attempted to bribe some BI officials with PHP50 million in exchange for the release of some of the 1316 Chinese workers arrested in illegal online casinos at the Clark Freeport in Pampanga.