Senator Christopher Lawrence ‘’Bong’’ Go may run in the 2022 presidential race if President Duterte decides to run for vice president after Duterte’s one-time six-year tenure ends on June 30, 2022.
(OFFICE OF SEN. BONG GO / FILE PHOTO / MANILA BULLETIN)
Yesterday, President Duterte said his former long-time aide and now Senator Christopher Lawrence “Bong” Go really wants to become president.
In a speech during the groundbreaking ceremonies of the new Port Operations Building in the Port of Dumaguete in Negros Oriental, Duterte said that Go had asked him to make the announcement.
On his being considered as standard bearer of PDP-Laban, Go, in a statement issued Friday, March 12, said: “count me out first, consider me last.’’
Go reiterated that he remains not interested in running for higher office in the upcoming 2022 national elections.
After denying his presidential aspirations, Go later sparked further confusion among political pundits when he said in Filipino: ‘’Magbabago lang siguro ang isip ko kung tatakbong Vice President si Pangulong Duterte (I may change my mind if President Duterte runs for Vice President in the scheduled 2022 national and local elections).‘’
Go’s ambivalent political analysis may have factored in a nation-wide Pulse Asia survey released yesterday where a Go-Rodrigo Duterte tandem got the highest among pairs of possible president-vice president tandems.
In that survey the Go-Duterte tandem got 32 percent, followed by Grace Poe-Senate President Vicente C. Sotto III with 23 percent; Bongbong Marcos-Pacquiao with 17 percent; Lacson-Isko Moreno with 11; and Robredo-Kiko Pangilinan with 11 percent.
This is not the first time Duterte hinted that his former special assistant could probably run for the highest office in government.
Duterte, in a speech delivered in Cagayan de Oro City on March 5, teased Go about a possible presidential run, calling the senator “president.” The President said Go has been with him for 21 years.