Not hard to support PNoy, Palace suggests to Koko

If he is sincere in pushing reforms, it will not be hard for lawyer and “incoming" senator Aquilino “Koko" Pimentel III to support President Benigno Aquino III, Malacañang said on Saturday. Deputy presidential spokesperson Abigail Valte made this claim even as she declined to make further comment until Pimentel is actually proclaimed a member of the Senate. “If you want to be for reform and you are sincere about pushing forward those reforms, hindi mahirap suportahan si Pangulong Aquino," she said on government-run dzRB radio. But in the meantime, she said "We will defer comment dahil di pa proclaimed, ayaw natin pangunahan ang SET [Senate Electoral Tribunal] diyan," she said. Pimentel is expected to be proclaimed in the coming days, after Juan Miguel Zubiri resigned last Wednesday amid allegations of cheating in the 2007 elections. But he had been quoted as saying he will not be a lapdog of the administration, and that his support will be issues-based. “From that statement, Pimentel is not declaring wholesale support for this administration, and his support will depend on issues," Valte noted. To recall, Koko's father, former Sen. Aquilino Pimentel Jr., supported Sen. Manuel Villar Jr., Aquino's rival in the 2010 presidential election. — LBG, GMA News