MANILA, Philippines — President Rodrigo Duterte has challenged his former aide and senator Christopher “Bong” Go to use Senate’s forum to expose “wrongdoings” and “criminality” — a test which the latter accepted.
“Alam niya may trabaho siya sa Senate. He can always use the forum sa Senate to expose wrongdoings and expose criminality,” Duterte told Go in his taped address aired Monday night.
(You know what, he has work in the Senate. He can always use the Senate’s forum to expose wrongdoings and expose criminality.)
In response, Go said he accepts the President’s challenge and that he would not hesitate to “talk like an opposition” when it comes to addressing corruption.
“Hindi po natin bibiguin ang nais ni Pangulong Duterte na gamitin natin ang aking mandato bilang isang senador para i-expose ang anumang uri ng katiwalian sa gobyerno o kriminalidad sa ating bansa,” Go said in a statement.
(We will not let the President down to use our mandate as a senator to expose any irregularities or criminality in our country.)
“Sa mga kasamahan ko sa gobyerno, kahit magka-alyado tayo, basta may mali, magsasalita po ako. Umabot na sa punto na sinabihan ako ng Pangulo na ‘to talk like an opposition’ kapag corruption na ang pinag-uusapan,” he also said.
(To my colleagues in government, even though we are allies, if there are wrongdoings, I will speak out. It came to a point when the President told me to ‘talk like an opposition’ when it comes to corruption.)
Go underscored that there should be accountability on the alleged irregularities within Philippine Health Insurance Corp. (PhilHealth).
“Managot ang dapat managot. Ikulong ang dapat ikulong. We should get to the bottom of this deeply rooted and systemic corruption in PhilHealth,” Go said.
(Hold them accountable. Jail those who are needed to be jailed. We should get to the bottom of this deeply rooted and systemic corruption in PhilHealth.)
To get rid of corruption within PhilHealth, Go recommended that “preventive suspensions must be meted out to those who are allegedly involved in anomalies in order to preserve the integrity of the probe.”
“Para maitigil ang kalokohan, dapat talaga pilayin ang magnanakaw para hindi na makagalaw. Hindi lahat kasi nakikita ng head ng ahensya. Marami diyan umo-operate sa ibaba,” Go said.
(To stop anomalies, thieves should become crippled so they could no longer steal. The agency’s head cannot see everything. Many of them operate from below.)
“Kailangan na rin nating gumawa ng mga hakbang para magkaroon ng ‘vaccine.’ In other words, kailangan ng preventive measures para hindi na ito mangyari pang muli. Isa na nga po dito ang transition to e-governance to minimize red tape and eliminate corruption,” he went on.
(We also need to create a ‘vaccine.’ In other words, there should be preventive measures so that it will not happen again. This includes the transition to e-governance to minimize red tape and eliminate corruption.) [ac]