My candidate is Christopher ‘Bong’ Go

Although I do not agree there should be any elections without junking the Smartmatic-PCOS automatic voting system, I venture to choose Christopher “Bong” Go as my candidate if there should be one.

If you think President Rodrigo Duterte has been a good president and want his program continued, then Christopher “Bong” Go is the man to vote for as senator.

To show his support Duterte himself accompanied him when he filed his candidacy at the Comelec together with some members of the Cabinet and other supporters.

In my opinion, the most important consideration for this support is continuity. That is what is lacking in the presidential system we have adopted and the reason why we have not progressed as quickly as other middle-range countries in our region.

We need constitutional change and it must be a parliamentary government with an evolving federal structure. In a parliamentary system a bad leader can be removed with a no confidence vote and a good leader can stay as long as he fulfils the program he campaigned for without term limits.

That is one of the questions I asked Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir when I interviewed him in Kuala Lumpur. How long did it take you to put your reforms in place? He said 17 years, certainly more than one term. Still up to this day he had to make a comeback when his successor Najib Razak destroyed what he built.

But to go back to Christopher “Bong” Go. He became known as President Duterte’s photobomber. He’s always in the President’s picture whether in front, on the side or at the back. One would think that he was a security aide, but his frail figure makes him not physically equipped if an assassin attempts to kill the President. He is there because he is willing to take the bullet.

There are other things he is besides being a security aide. He is also the all-around aide you can see, when the President needs information he turns to Christopher Go, or if he wants to get hold of somebody, it is “Go again.” That is why the Philippine Cancer Society named him one of the men of influence among others, second only to the US Ambassador.

Federalism without a parliamentary government will be useless. The presidential system causes the inevitable money politics no matter if you say we have good candidates. A nationwide election for senators without constituencies is a flawed structure.

In a hearing in the Senate when Trillanes accused Go of favoring his relatives, he did not budge or wince despite the senator’s accusations of his alleged involvement in a billions-worth Philippine Navy frigate project.

His answers were straightforward and the senator was at a loss on how to weaken his victim. The audience clapped at his calm and collectedness. Then and there I recognized his most useful character trait – he is ineffable.

He shares some of the qualities of Duterte. Like the President he also loves big bikes.

When he filed his candidacy Go was deemed automatically resigned from his post as Special Assistant to the President (SAP), an office created especially for him by Duterte, which also gave him the rank of “secretary.”

As a government official, Go’s pet project is establishing Malasakit Centers nationwide – one-stop shop facilities to hasten the delivery of medical services and other forms of assistance to poor patients.

His strength is to be versatile both in small and big things. He is also a good basketball player.

“During the campaign I had a job to do then. I had to be always behind him (Duterte) because I also had to take note of what he says or if he needs information from me regarding certain questions from media.”

If there is anyone who had served Duterte the longest and the closest, it is the 42-year-old Go, the grandson of a close friend of Duterte and a management graduate of De La Salle University.

Go is the person Duterte cannot do without. He briefs Duterte about the news for the day and the things that have to be done later in the day.

Go had a big part in how Duterte finally decided to run for president. He recounted that it was a hard start for Duterte because only a few people believed in him as then mayor of Davao City, and his camp did not have a machinery as big and as strong as those of other presidential candidates.

Duterte appointed Go as head of the OP-EMC aside from having supervision over the Presidential Management Staff (PMS) and the Office of the Appointments Secretary.