MANILA- Former Senate President Aquilino “Nene” Pimentel Jr. contradicted his son and namesake on Thursday, saying Congress should have held a joint session to talk about President Duterte's declaration of martial law in Mindanao.

“Under the Constitution, it is required that they have a joint session, joint discussion, joint deliberation,” he told reporters.

Fmr. Senate Pres. Pimentel, nanindigang dapat magkaroon ng joint session taliwas sa pasya ng anak na ngayo'y lider ng Senado pic.twitter.com/FEVTOdVA50

— Zandro Ochona (@ZandroDZMM) June 1, 2017

The elder Pimentel’s stand contrasts that of his son, incumbent Senate President Aquilino “Koko” Pimentel III, who rejected a resolution calling for a joint session of Congress to tackle President Rodrigo Duterte’s declaration of martial law.

The former lawmaker also opposed the comment of his son that there was no need for the Senate and the House of Representatives to convene in a joint session if the majority of its members agreed with the declaration of martial law.

“Revoke, extend, justify. In other words, do their function to report to the people because they are the representatives of the people,” he said.

The elder Pimentel said he has had no chance to talk to his son but understood that the latter had many “ifs.”

“I understand that he (Koko) had many ifs preliminary to the statement that he was supporting the declaration of martial law,” the elder Pimentel said.

The younger Pimentel was among 12 senators who thumbed down a proposed joint session to discuss Duterte's declaration of martial law in Mindanao.

Voting 12-9, the Senate rejected the call to convene a joint session of Congress to discuss Duterte's declaration of martial law, and the suspension of the privilege of the writ of habeas corpus in Mindanao.

The other 11 who also voted 'no' were Senators Sonny Angara, Nancy Binay, JV Ejercito, Richard Gordon, Gregorio Honasan, Panfilo Lacson, Loren Legarda, Manny Pacquiao, Vicente Sotto III, Cynthia Villar, and Juan Miguel Zubiri,

Senators who voted 'yes' to a joint session were Senators Bam Aquino, Franklin Drilon, Chiz Escudero, Sherwin Gatchalian, Risa Hontiveros, Francis Pangilinan, Grace Poe, Ralph Recto and Antonio Trillanes IV. --with a report from Zandro Ochona, ABS-CBN News