Bong Go files Senate candidacy without ex-president Duterte

MANILA, Philippines — Sen. Bong Go has filed his candidacy to be re-elected as senator — this time without former President Rodrigo Duterte by his side.

On Thursday, October 3, the former president's long-time aide registered his candidacy before the Commission on Elections alongside Sen. Ronald dela Rosa and actor Philip Salvador, two other senatorial aspirants under Partido Demokratiko ng Pilipino (PDP), which Duterte chairs. 

PDP President and Go's colleague in the Senate, Sen. Robin Padilla, also joined the group. 

Go's submission of his candidacy on Thursday was a less hyped affair compared to when he first ran for the Senate in 2018. Besides Duterte, Go was flanked by members of the Cabinet, including then-Foreign Affairs Secretary Alan Peter Cayetano, in filing his COC.

In 2022, when Go filed his candidacy for president, Duterte was also seen sitting beside Go at the Comelec office.

Will Duterte join the senatorial aspirants under his party on the campaign trail? "I can't answer that right now. We're all in a wait-and-see mode," Go said in mixed Filipino and English.

"It's their family's decision. They're discussing among themselves where they want to run, and I believe that former President Duterte still has a deep love for public service," he added.

Go sees the 2025 elections as a test of whether the public still supports the policies and programs implemented by the Duterte administration.

"We're here with PDP-Laban because we believe in the leadership and accomplishments of former President Duterte, and it's up to the people to judge. It's up to [them] to decide if his programs, like Build Build Build, have helped. Let's wait for the people's will," he said.

Go won his first Senate seat in the 2019 midterm elections, where he placed third overall in the upper chamber. 

Go authored the Senate version of the bill that became Republic Act 11463, which establishes a Malasakit center in all government hospitals to gather all agencies that give financial and medical aid to indigent patients in one office. The law was signed by Duterte in 2019.

The senator was accused of using his flagship health program to skirt election rules on campaign ads during his Senate campaign in 2019. Acting on complaints, the Comelec had requested the Department of Health to take down all posters of Malasakit centers bearing Go's face in government hospitals. 

In January 2023, Go was one of four senators (including Sen. Mark Villar, Sen. Francis Tolentino and Sen. Bato dela Rosa) to file a bill seeking to give former Philippine presidents additional benefits, arguing that they still carry out "post-presidential duties." 

The proposed bill would allocate government funds to cover personal security and office space for the country's three living former presidents: Duterte, Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo and Joseph Estrada.