MANILA - Senator Aquilino "Koko" Pimentel III on Tuesday said his camp is not worried about the disqualification complaint lodged against his re-election bid.

Complainant and lawyer Ferdinand Topacio argued that Pimentel cannot run for senator anew as he is already serving his second and maximum allowed consecutive term.

• Koko faces disqualification case over senatorial bid

But Pimentel said Topacio was only looking at the latter half of Article VI, Section 4 of the Constitution, which states that "No Senator shall serve for more than two consecutive terms."

He said the lawyer disregarded the first part, which states that "The term of office of the Senators shall be six years and shall commence, unless otherwise provided by law, at noon on the thirtieth day of June next following their election."

Pimentel recalled that he was declared the 12th placer in the 2007 senatorial race only in August 2011, leaving him only a year and 10 months to serve.

There have been cases similar to his, but these were only in the local level, he said.

"We have cases decided all the way to the Supreme Court but applied at the local level. By analogy, the principle can be used. So we’re not worried about this case," he told ANC's Headstart.