Bong Go files COC for vice president

MANILA, Philippines — In a surprising turn of events, Sen. Christopher “Bong” Go, President Rodrigo Duterte’s long-time and most trusted aide, filed his certificate of candidacy for vice president in the 2022 elections.

Go formalized his candidacy on Saturday, the second day of filing, accompanied by the chief executive.

This comes as an unexpected move as the PDP-Laban faction led by Energy Secretary Alfonso Cusi nominated Go as the ruling party’s standard bearer and Duterte as the vice presidential bet in next year’s polls.

Go rejected the nomination then, saying he wanted to focus on helping fight the pandemic. He chairs the Senate committees on sports and health.

In a briefing, Go said he decided to run for vice president after Duterte withdrew his acceptance of the PDP-Laban nomination for the position.

It is now unclear who the ruling party’s presidential candidate would be.

Continuity

Go vowed to continue Duterte’s campaign against illegal drugs, corruption and crime as well as the administration’s massive infrastructure program.

“I intend to pursue and expand these efforts further towards overcoming this pandemic by achieving economic recovery, providing job opportunities, and addressing hunger and poverty,” he said.

In the same event, Duterte said he would retire from politics, potentially clearing the way for the presidential run of his daughter, Davao City Mayor Sara Duterte-Carpio.

Go scored low among presidential bets in the latest Pulse Asia survey, with only 3% of respondents saying they would vote for him.

He was elected senator in 2019 in a race dominated by Duterte’s allies.

Go has been Duterte’s aide since 1998, when the long-time mayor of Davao City was congressman.

Go accompanies the chief executive at most events and at meetings of the pandemic task force despite also being a lawmaker.