MANILA, Philippines – PDP-Laban founder and former Senate president Aquilino “Nene” Pimentel Jr is in the hospital and is “very ill,” according to his family. 

In a statement past 8 pm Monday, October 14, the Pimentel family said that the former Senate president is “very ill and currently under treatment.”

“Doctors and hospital staff are doing their best to help him. We ardently ask that you join us in prayer for his full and complete recovery,” the family said.

PDP-Laban spokesperson Ron Munsayac, meanwhile, said in a tweet past 7 pm Monday that Pimentel, the party chairman emeritus, was in the intensive care unit.

Sources said that the Pimentel patriarch is at St Lukes Global and is suffering from an advanced stage of lymphoma, a cancer of the lympathic system.

Pimentel was a known critic of late dictator Ferdinand Marcos, and was among those who were imprisoned for opposing the Martial Law. 

Pimentel founded the PDP-Laban to oppose Marcos during the dictatorship. He served as the Senate president from 2000 to 2001. (WATCH: Rappler Talk: Nene Pimentel on federalism, Congress, Duterte’s SONA) – with a report from Camille Elemia/Rappler.com