Sen Bong Go, the Action Man

POLITICIANS have varied agenda and persuasion. Others got into politics not knowing what to do. Most have a gift of gab others just vocal cords. We see them among those who have stuck in politics like barnacles for they have made it their industry or to protect their industry or their benefactors' industries.

 

A rara avis, however, is Sen. Christopher Lawrence "Bong" Go. A legislator of few words but a man of action. For over two decades Bong served as a special assistant to then Davao City Mayor Rodrigo R. Duterte. For us community journalists who kept track of the official and personal lifestyles of politicians, we took note of the avuncular regard of Duterte to his aide. Bong is his data bank, his appointment secretary and his gatekeeper. It's like 'no one comes near or calls Duterte except through Bong'.

 

Bong, therefore, has imbibed Duterte's compassion for the sick and the indigents; courage and the stamina. Bong is always there whenever or wherever his boss spends every Christmas like with cancer-afflicted indigent children, he was there with the Mayor in Leyte when the killer typhoon Yolanda and the tsunami that it spawned wrought havoc that leftover 6,000 dead that littered the streets of Tacloban. Davao City dispatched 15 dump trucks loaded with relief items and three medical and rescue teams headed by no less than the mayor himself.

 

I have seen how Bong Go braved the rumbling flood water that hit Jade Valley subdivision. He rushed to the scene with his jet ski and went on to save residents trapped in their homes in the middle of the night.

 

If the institutionalization of Malasakit Centers was his ardent passion, it is not because he is Chairman of the Senate Committee on Health but because he saw how this worked in Davao City. Bong was given the task by Mayor Duterte to conceptualized Lingap Center "Para sa Mahirap". Lingap initially catered only to Davao City residents but later catered to patients in other provinces who have heard of the assistance extended to indigents. " We cannot drive away people who are in dire need of help", Bong intoned.

 

Bong is with Mayor Duterte while visiting soldiers in the Marawi siege. He is with him negotiating for peace with rebel leaders. At the time when the Mayor became President his faithful and ever-loyal executive assistant receive and screen calls from any Tom, Dick, and Harry to include Presidents and Prime Ministers. The last time I saw Bong he holds three cellphones sometimes answering callers and texters simultaneously. So don't begrudge him if he answers in just one to three words. Duterte never learned to operate a smartphone. He belongs to the talk and text generation.

 

Being the busiest and closest person around the circle of Duterte, Bong Go adapts to his work regimen. The Mayor is a night owl. He prowls the streets of Davao in the wee hours of the evening driving a taxi or in his big bike to inspect police stations or in search of criminals. In times of heavy rainfall, Duterte and Bong would use the mayor's black pickup and together with backup vehicles would roam the street to assist stranded senior citizens or helpless women with children in tow and conduct them to their homes. On most of these occasions, Bong Go is with the mayor.

 

When the Federal Movement was relaunched Mayor Duterte was the unanimous choice and was fielded by the proponents to conduct a nationwide campaign to rekindle the idea of a federal form of government. Bong presence was prominently conspicuous and he earned the moniker "photo-bomber". It went on that way even when Duterte won the Presidency.

 

It comes as no surprise when Bong was catapulted from the tail end of the senatorial surveys to being on the lead pack Bong, it is turning out, is getting to be a very productive senator. And true to his experience and commitments is the most perceptible politician. But he is not seen in parties or glitzy events as most of our politicians are wont to do. Bong is present in every calamity making people feel the presence of government  His pieces of legislation cater to the poor and to the youth. His Malasakit Centers defines that and his role in the success of the SEA Games demonstrates that.

 

Professor Clarita Carlos describes Sen. Bong Go quite aptly. "Senator Go is the epitome of an Action Man, indeed".