Duterte’s closest aide says he’s not ready for Senate

CEBU CITY — President Rodrigo Duterte’s longtime and most trusted aide, Christopher Lawrence “Bong” Go, continued to publicly shun calls for him to run for senator, saying here that he was not ready.

Go, in results of a survey held on March 23-28 and released by Pulse Asia recently, ranked 28-38 in voter preference in an electoral race that would fill up only 12 seats in the Senate.

Proper planning

Although Go’s awareness was 60 percent, only 5.9 percent of those surveyed said they would vote for him if he ran for senator next year.

“I’m not ready to run for senator,” Go said.

Echoing the common reply of politicians, Go said it was too early to talk about the senatorial race “but I won’t be running.”

“I’m not ready for it,” he repeated.

He said it also didn’t cross his mind to join the political party Partido Demokratikong Pilipino-Lakas ng Bayan (PDP-Laban), which had risen from near extinction to become the ruling party after its adoption of the President as standard bearer in the 2016 elections.

“I still have a lot of work to do,” Go said.

“If I have such an ambition, it should be planned properly,” he said in a press conference with other Cabinet officials at the Waterfront Cebu City Hotel and Casino on Tuesday. —Report from Morexette Erram