FORMER special assistant to the President Christopher Lawrence "Bong" Go cast his vote with style, as he entered Buhangin Central Elementary School onboard his motorcycle Monday, May 13.
Go is designated in Precinct 1658-A, Cluster 1146 at Buhangin Central Elementary School, Davao City.
A first-time candidate for an elective post, Go arrived at the polling place past 9 a.m. coming from Carmelite Monastery, Lanang where he prayed early in the morning and met with the priest and nuns of the church.
It took him more than two hours to finally get inside his precinct and cast his vote as he went through the election process of falling in line along with other voters in the holding area.
While he was in the area, several individuals requested for a selfie and he willingly granted.
In an ambush interview with the media after he cast his vote, Go assured that in spite of being close to President Rodrigo Duterte, he will maintain independence from the Palace and will prioritize the welfare of the Filipinos if elected.
“Yes. Ako uunahin ko ang Pilipino. Serbisyo, serbisyo, serbisyo. Pero susuportahan ko po si Pangulong Duterte dahil alam ko ginagawa ni Pangulong Duterte ang tama at ano po ang dapat gawin sa ating bayan,” Go said.
Go, who is under the administration party Pilipino-Lakas ng Bayan (PDP-Laban), is gunning for a senatorial post in this election and has been included in the magic 12 in recent surveys. He is pushing for improvement in the delivery of health services.
When he was the special assistant to the President, he conceptualized the establishment of Malasakit Center, a one-stop-shop program of the Duterte administration that allows indigent citizens to experience easier and faster processing of medical and financial assistance.
In the Ateneo de Davao University (AdDU) Off-Campus Blue Vote Electoral Survey, Go topped the survey with 80.9 percent of the respondents voting for him. He also earned the top spot in the University of Mindanao's Institute of Popular Opinion's (UM-IPO) survey that was released on April 24.
Likewise, in the pre-election survey of Pulse Asia, Go, who was previously in the fourth to eighth bracket, jumped to the third to seventh place after acquiring 42 percent voter preference.