Who is Bong Go to the president?

Now that the scenario of Bong Go winning the presidency and Digong Duterte as vice president is not only a distinct possibility but even a high probability, maybe it’s time to know who is this guy, who rose so rapidly to national prominence, from a relative obscurity as special assistant to the mayor of a city. Who is this guy who won as senator, snatching third place, and even managing to get more votes than famous incumbents? He has never been elected president even of a homeowners association or a PTA. This must be a special guy to have been endorsed by the president.

In the 2016 midterm senatorial elections, at the apex of President's Duterte's popularity, Cynthia Villar topped the race with 25,283,727 votes, followed by Grace Poe with 22,029,788 and Bong Go garnering 20,657,702. This wonder boy from Davao got four million more votes than his boss, President Digong himself, who garnered 16,601,997 in 2016. Go was a million votes ahead of Pia Cayetano and Bato dela Rosa, another creation of President Duterte from Davao. Go and Bato rose to the chambers that used to be the home of such political titans as Quezon, Osmeña, Laurel, Roxas, Marcos, Pelaez, Manglapus, Ninoy Aquino, Recto, Tañada, Tolentino, and Salonga. Go belongs to that gallery now, thanks to the benediction of Manong Digong. In that election, Koko Pimentel, a Bar topnotcher, placed only tenth. Mar Roxas, Serge Osmeña, and Enrile lost badly.

So who is this miracle guy? There is no record whether he is married or not, with children or none. How can one ever win as senator when he has no visible family, except the president as his Tatay Digong. Well, Go is a fixture forever etched in the memory of Filipinos as standing behind the president. He always comes from behind with a piece of paper then whispering to Tatay, and he signs anything and everything. If Manong Rody is Batman, Go is Robin. If the president is Sherlock Holmes, he is Mr. Watson. Go is the character of Falcon if the president were Captain America. They are like Tom and Jerry, Ernie and Bert, Bugs and Daffy, Kirk and Spock, Abbott and Costello. They are inseparable like Don Quixote and Sancho Panza. Go is already a senator but he spends more time in Malacañang.

Somebody told me that when the president is sleeping, Joma Sison is attacking Malacañang, or a terrorist bomb explodes in some cities or an intensity 8 earthquake shakes any province or region, or there is fire in the Palace, only Go has the right to enter the presidential bedroom to wake up the head of state. When a mayor from Ilocos or Central Luzon wants his son appointed a judge in Bulacan or a prosecutor in Pampanga, they go to Go, and they will surely know if there is a chance. If a lawyer in Bukidnon wants to work in BIR or a CPA in Gensan wants to be join Customs, they will not go to Polong or Baste, but to Go. When a prominent businessman wants to ask help from the government, they will not ask Inday Sara or her husband Atty. Mans Carpio to help. They will be rebuffed. They go to Go and he will listen. He will say yes or no. And that will be the end of it.

Go is the only guy who will take a bullet to protect the president. His loyalty has been tried and tested. He worked with Manong Digong in good times and bad. He never abandoned his boss. He always comes ahead of his Tatay and never leaves the office while the president is still working. He never says a word of whatever he witnessed or heard. His lips are sealed and he will never betray his Tatay Digong. The president is so lucky to have a man like Go and Go is also lucky to have a father, mentor, protector, sponsor, and adviser in his life and career. The president trusts Go 101%. His wife may abandon him, his children may leave him because they have their own lives and career. But Go will always be behind him, watching, protecting, and even praying for him. I could just imagine that if the president would write his last will and testament, Go’s name will really be left a big legacy or bequest. What could be a bigger gift than to be the next president?