VP SUPPORTER. President Rodrigo Duterte (center) delivers a speech during the filing of Senator Christopher “Bong” Go’s candidacy for Vice President at the Sofitel Harbor Garden Tent in Pasay City on Saturday (Oct. 2, 2021). Partido Demokratiko Pilipino - Lakas ng Bayan president and Energy Secretary Alfonso Cusi (not in photo) also came. (PNA photo by Robert Oswald P. Alfiler)
MANILA – Senator Christopher “Bong” Go on Saturday said he will not be a “spare tire” and will continue the programs of the current administration as he seeks to become Vice President next year in lieu of President Rodrigo Duterte, the original nominee of the Partido Demokratiko Pilipino - Lakas ng Bayan (PDP-Laban).
Go was accompanied by Duterte when he filed his Certificate of Candidacy (COC) at the Sofitel Harbor Garden Tent in Pasay City.
Duterte also announced he will walk away from politics at the end of his term in June 2022 after learning that the “overwhelming sentiment of the Filipino is that I am not qualified and it would be a violation of the Constitution to circumvent the law, the spirit of the Constitution.”
“I have decided to run as Vice President in the coming election to continue the good programs and real changes started by President Duterte and we will try to increase them even more,” Go said in his speech.
Among the programs Go vowed to continue, if elected, are the campaigns against illegal drugs and corruption and the “Build, Build, Build” infrastructure projects
“Ang ganda na sana ng takbo ng ating ekonomiya at ng administrasyong Duterte kung hindi lang tayo tinamaan ng krisis. Sisikapin nating ma-ibalik sa normal ang ating pamumuhay at muling ma-i-ahon mula sa hirap ang ating mga kababayan dahil rumami ang nawalan ng trabaho at nagugutom (It would have been nice if our economy and the Duterte administration have not been hit by the crisis. We will try to give back our countrymen their normal lives and get people out of poverty because more have lost their jobs and are starving),” he added.
He said he will expand efforts toward overcoming the pandemic by achieving economic recovery, providing job opportunities, and addressing hunger and poverty.
“Hindi ako magiging spare tire o reserba lamang. Asahan ninyo na ako ay totoong magtatrabaho. Hindi lang sa salita, kundi sa gawa (I will not be a spare tire or a reserve. Expect that I will really work not only in words but also in deed). I don’t want to be remembered as just another senator or Vice President. I want to be remembered as a public servant na nalalapitan ng sinumang ordinaryong mamamayan at buong pusong nagsisilbi para sa ikabubuti ng ating bansa (who can be approached by any ordinary citizen and wholeheartedly serves for the good of our country),” he said.
Go said he will keep in mind Duterte’s advice to always put the welfare of the Filipinos first.
“Hinding hindi ka magkakamali (You will never go wrong),” he said, quoting Duterte. (PNA)
