2019 midterm elections: Is it a go or no go?

All the signs are out there, but Christopher Lawrence “Bong’’ Go remains coy about his reported plan to run for a Senate seat in 2019.

Billboards, banners, tarpaulin signs and posters, as well as T-shirts and stickers, all egging him to make a go of his political plan, have proliferated in urban centers, less than a year before the midterm elections in 2019.

And while his high-profile forays into the countryside have become more frequent, complete with gimmicks, Go insisted over the weekend that he wasn’t campaigning for any public office.

If at all, President Rodrigo Duterte’s alter ego said he was just doing his bit to help his countrymen and promoting the administration’s controversial antidrug campaign that had drawn fierce condemnation from rights groups.

“Why should I deprive those less fortunate the help that they need just to satisfy my critics? Let us just help. This is my job,” Go said on Saturday before addressing the crowd at the University of Science and Technology of Southern Philippines in Cagayan de Oro City.

He showed off his basketball skills before the crowd, and then gave away shoes and school supplies to children of families whose homes were razed by fire recently .

As to his political plans, Go said he would defer to the President.

“It’s up to the President,” Go said. “I will just do as he says, in case I will run for senator. Right now my focus is to help those victims of fire. My job is to help Filipinos.”

On the same day in Tagbilaran City, Bohol province, 17 mayors and several barangay and youth officials launched Bayan for Bong Go Bohol Movement in a bid to coax him to run for the Senate.

“SAP Bong Go represents change. It gave us hope that the legacy of President Duterte may continue through SAP Bong Go in the Senate,” said businessman Lucio Lim Jr., the movement’s chair.

Go did not attend the launch.