Sen. Christopher Go (Photo from his office)
MANILA, Philippines — Sen. Christopher “Bong” Go would rather focus on giving public service before getting into talks about the 2022 elections to ensure that nobody would be left out of government efforts to speed up the country’s recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic.
“My focus now, as it has always been, is to serve my fellow Filipinos. Please count me out of talks about politics,” Go said, partly in Filipino, in a statement issued on Sunday.
“My term as senator will be up to 2025. I will not waste every day that you have given me as an opportunity to serve you,” he added.
Go urged every Filipino to cooperate with the government in efforts to overcome the health crisis as one nation instead of engaging in partisan talks and political bickering.
“Let’s focus first on service. It’s important to have our recovery measures in place, and it’s important that nobody will be left behind. What’s important is for the whole country to recover,” he said.
The 2022 elections are not too far off, he noted.
“Politics will come. October will come when will have candidates, and May will come next year when we will then select a leader. So let’s just wait for those times. For now, all our attention is on bayanihan so that we can get through this trial that the country is facing,” he said.
Go also urged political leaders and supporters from all sides to prioritize the welfare of the Filipino people rather than their own interests.
“If we don’t get over this crisis, we may not have any politics to talk about,” he said.
Meanwhile, in a recent interview, he was asked if he would consider running for the presidency if President Rodrigo Duterte would run for the vice presidency.
“That’s not on my mind yet,” he said. “As you know the president likes to make jokes. I have always said that I am not interested to run for higher office. The president knows that I’m not interested.”
Go also explained that his previous pronouncement about him running for the presidency if Duterte should decide to run for the vice presidency was just a response to the president’s “joke.”
“It’s just that he’s always joking… So I said: ‘Mayor, president, I will run if you will be my VP. The decision is his if he will take it seriously or as a joke,” Go said.