Partido Reporma chairman and standard bearer Panfilo “Ping” Lacson on Tuesday wished fellow senator and presidential candidate Christopher “Bong” Go good luck on his future endeavors after the administration bet announced he was formally withdrawing from the 2022 electoral race.
At a news conference following his dialog with transport sector leaders on Bonifacio Day, Lacson said Go had indicated his desire to pull out from the May 9 polls several times in his private tete-a-tetes with him and his running mate, Senate President Vicente “Tito” Sotto III, in between sessions.
“I only learned it now that Senator Bong Go officially withdrew, although he had indicated it for a while now,” Lacson said, recalling that “even when we were in the Senate lounge, he really would feel dejected, frustrated with the developments.”
Lacson recalled that Go was even “telling us, confiding in us both with Senate President Sotto when we’re in the lounge, in our tete-a-tete there before or during session breaks, he was saying: ‘I don’t know how I got here because I was already happy… Even becoming a senator, I didn’t expect that I would become a senator.”
Saying he does not want President Duterte, whom he loves as a father, to be caught in the middle in his support for national candidates, Go earlier announced he was withdrawing from the presidential race, and was leaving his fate to God.
Waxing emotional on the sidelines at the November 30 commemoration rites for Andres Bonifacio’s birth anniversary at San Juan City’s Pinaglabanan Shrine, Go said, “I don’t want President Duterte caught in the middle because I love him as a father. He is old and has given much to the country. I don’t want to add to his burdens. I will remain loyal to him and I vow to be with him forever.”
Go initially filed his candidacy for Vice President under PDP- Laban, as running mate to Sen. Ronald “Bato” dela Rosa, but on the deadline for withdrawals and substitutions, he withdrew his certificate of candidacy for Vice president and subsequently filed for President under the Pederalismo ng Dugong Dakilang Samahan (PDDS) party, with no less than President Duterte accompanying him to the Commission on Elections. The latter also filed his candidacy for senator under PDDS.
Moreover, Lacson quoted Go as saying, “I was ready to run for Vice President, but this presidential run, this is something that I don’t expect and I have not prepared for.”
Lacson added: “That is all I can say, and I wish him luck. We have an unwritten rule—if it’s a fellow senator, it’s a fellow senator, and you don’t—normally, as much as you can avoid it, you don’t speak ill of your colleagues in the Senate. So, good luck to Senator Bong Go, whatever his plans in life are henceforth. Good luck to him.”
The Commission on Elections, meanwhile, said the PDDS may have permanently lost its chance to field a standard bearer for the 2022 polls after Go’s withdrawal.
The poll body said if Go pushes through with the withdrawal of his candidacy, he can no longer be replaced by PDDS with another candidate.
“Since it would be a voluntary withdrawal, no substitution,” Comelec spokesman James Jimenez said in a brief statement issued on Tuesday. With Samuel P. Medenilla
Image courtesy of Nonoy Lacza