Bong Go to hit the ground running
Credit to Author: RAMON T. TULFO| Date: Fri, 17 May 2019 18:12:39 +0000
PRESUMED senator-elect Christopher Lawrence “Bong” Go says he will hit the ground running before he even takes his oath as senator on June 30, 2019.
Go, who placed third in the just concluded senatorial race, said he is open to receiving people who may need his immediate help as a plain citizen who has direct connections to Malacañang.
Go resigned his position as special assistant to the President when he filed his candidacy certificate.
“Sir, I can ask my former staff in Malacañang to extend help to people in need. I was too busy campaigning to be reached by the needy, but now that the campaign is over I’m back in harness,” said Go who was concurrent chief of the Presidential Management Staff (PMS) before he resigned to run for the Senate.
This columnist campaigned for Go because I owe him a debt of gratitude, big time, when he extended assistance to people who approached me through my public service program, “Isumbong Mo Kay Tulfo.”
Most of the help Bong gave was in the form of coordinating with the Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office (PCSO) for people who needed hospitalization and medicines. There were legions of them.
He also coordinated with the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) to transport citizens who wanted to go back to their towns in the Visayas and Mindanao but didn’t have the money for fare.
“I will continue to help the needy through your program, sir,” the soft-spoken Davaoeño said.
The Malasakit (empathy) centers in many government hospitals is Bong Go’s brainchild.
A Malasakit Center is a one-stop shop for indigent patients or their relatives where employees of PCSO, DSWD, Department of Health (DoH) and PhilHealth can attend to their needs.
So far, 34 centers have been set up — Go’s answer to all requests for assistance from the public which were coursed through him in various government hospitals throughout the country.
As senator, Bong said he will introduce a law that would make Malasakit Centers permanent. “That is a promise that I will keep, Sir Mon.”
Sir Mon? Humility is Bong Go’s notable trait.
Go also said he will fulfill his promise during the campaign to introduce a law to create the Department of Overseas Filipino Workers (DOFW) to advance the cause of Filipino contract workers abroad and help their families in the country.
Go also said that as senator his office will be open to receive citizens who have gripes against apathetic government agencies and abusive government officials and employees.
“I will be the sumbungan ng bayan (citizens’ complaints office),” he said.
(Inaagawan pa kaming magkapatid ng trabaho at eksena. Haha! — RTT)
The presumed senator-elect will help his erstwhile boss, President Digong, in the campaign to rid society of undesirable elements.
“It’s a big challenge, Sir Mon, but I will be the President’s voice in the Senate when it comes to fighting drugs and crime,” Bong Go said.
***
Another likely senator-elect that I congratulated on May 15, after Bong Go, was Ilocos Norte Gov. Imee Marcos.
Imee needs no introduction as she is the daughter of the late President Ferdinand Marcos and Imelda Romualdez, her namesake.
Despite what many people say about Da Apo (FM), millions of people, especially the Ilocanos, love and adore him.
FM tried to be a very good president but he was too sick to know what his wife and other people around him were doing to the country in the years before he was ousted from office.
Those who knew FM up close and personal — I knew of him from his close subordinates and friends — swear that his wife Imelda was the cause of all his woes.
For example, while Imelda’s brother Kokoy was appointed US ambassador and owned big companies, FM’s brother, Pacifico, worked as a consultant for business tycoon Antonio Cabangon-Chua.
No relatives of FM held high positions in the government or owned big businesses like Imelda’s kin did.
Back to Imee. Why should children be made to account for the mistakes of their parents — and, in the case of Imee or her brother Bongbong, Imelda’s?
Imee was headstrong and had a mind of her own when she was growing up in Malacañang.
A very close aide of the Marcoses told me that Imee and Imelda once had a big quarrel over something the aide already forgot.
Imelda, the former aide said, slapped Imee who slapped her mother back.
I was a reporter for the defunct Times Journal covering the Department of National Defense during the unlamented martial law years when news about the abduction of sportsman Tommy Manotoc broke.
Since the press was stifled during those years, we reporters at the military and police beats could just monitor the unraveling events of Manotoc’s abduction. We could only monitor but not report about the sportsman’s kidnapping.
It was Imelda who masterminded Tommy’s abduction.
My sources in the military at the time said that if not for Imee’s strong plea for the release of her lover — and later husband — there would be no Fernando Martin “Borgy” Manotoc.
Now, for crying out loud, why should Imee and Bongbong be made to apologize for their parents’ sins?
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