Ambush Interview with Senate President Aquilino "Koko" Pimentel III at the 2017 UP Law Commencement Exercises

Q: On President Duterte's first year, how do you rate it?

SPKP: ...(on the scale of 1 to 10), from 8.5 to nine, kasi alam mo naman yung slogan ni President Duterte, "Change." Ang dami nating naramdaman na pagbabago. Sa foreign relations na lang, kitang-kita na ngayon na the world believes that we have an independent foreign policy. Hindi po tayo dinidiktahan ng kahit anong bansa. We determine our own course in international affairs.

Pagdating po sa War on Drugs, alam na ng tao na priority ito, and ang balita naman, there is a reduction of crimes in the country. Yan po ang datos ng PNP. However, ang sinasabi ko nga, but I also notice, and ako I am personally alarmed with what I read and what I hear about killings.

Kung bumaba man ang overall incidence ng crime, let us look at the murders, baka tumataas ito. I am urging the PNP, na ito na lang sana yung improvement na pwede nilang gawin for the second year of the Duterte administration. Q: Ano po ba ang possible suggestions ninyo sa kanya for improvement?

SPKP: Wala naman, wala naman akong reklamo sa kanya. Napakasipag na Pangulo, given his age, yung pag-visit niya all over the country. Yung mga pagpapahinga, natural lang sa akin iyon, tanggap ko din po iyon.

So sa Presidente po natin, keep on doing what you have been doing. Yung surveys nagsasabi na the people appreciate what you have been doing. Mayroong mga negative statement, pero demokrasya ito eh.

That is why we have objective survey takers to tell us, if what we have been doing is appreciated by the people.

So tuloy lang po, basta dun lang tayo sa mga murder at homicide, sana mabasa ko na that the PNP is able to solve a lot of these crimes, and to read the identification of the perpetrators and the filing of cases against these people.