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DAVAO CITY–Special Assistant to the President (SAP) Christopher Lawrence “Bong” Go on Thursday maintained he was not running for senator in next year’s polls even as he called on his supporters to take down billboards that urge him to run.
Go instead suggested that the money being used to put up the billboards be used instead to buy housing materials for the homeless.
During the mass oath-taking of over 2,000 village officials as members of the Hugpong ng Pagbabago (HNP) party in Pantukan town, Compostela Valley, Go said he would remain a trusted aide to President Rodrigo Duterte.
“I’m not interested of running. There are many jealous persons in politics,” Go told the crowd at the Compostela Valley provincial gymnasium.
While he thanked his supporters for the huge billboards, Go said he was more interested in remaining as “your janitor” than becoming a legislator.
The presidential aide also slammed lawyer Edwin Lacierda and other critics for accusing him of being an “epal,” a slang Tagalog word for an attention-seeker, for supposedly installing the controversial billboards.
Go said he never dreamt of becoming a politician, much less becoming an “epal.”
“People in Davao know that I never put my name in any government project in line with my principal’s abhorrence of being an epal. It’s you, Lacierda and your ilk during the previous administration, who had been known to trumpet projects,” Go said.
“It’s you who were known to be shameless and not just attention-seekers,” the presidential aide
added.
During the program, Go also campaigned for the administration’s bets like reelectionist Sen. JV Ejercito and Ilocos Sur Gov. Imee Marcos who joined him and presidential daughter and Davao City Mayor Sara Duterte at the event. Mayor Duterte is one of the founders of the HNP.
In her speech, Mayor Duterte hinted that Go may still be a possible senatorial bet under the newly-minted HNP. Her statement drew cheers from the crowd.
“He said he was not running?” asked the HNP founder. “The filing of certificate of candidacy is still far off and we do not yet know what will happen tomorrow. But once they file their candidacy, we will ask that you help them in the same way that you’d helped President Duterte
in the (2016 elections),” Mayor Duterte said.
Joining Mayor Duterte at the event were her fellow HNP founders—Compostela Valley Gov. Jayvee Tyron Uy, Davao del Norte Gov. Anthony del Rosario, Davao Oriental Gov. Nelson Dayanghirang and Davao Occidental Gov. Claude Bautista.
The event also saw Ejercito formally affirming his decision to join HNP as “a show of gratitude” to Mayor Duterte for endorsing him.
Ejercito said he had informed Mr. Duterte, the national head of the ruling Partido ng Demokratikong Pilipino-Lakas ng Bayan (PDP-Laban), of his plan to join HNP, of which the latter gave his go-ahead. /muf