By Diego Morra
Lest millions of Filipinos forget the antics of Sen. Christopher Lawrence Tesoro Go (CLTG) or Bong Go for short, he was the wet-behind-the-ears senator who ridiculed then Albay 1st District Rep. Edcel Lagman on Aug. 27, 2019 for questioning the wisdom of a bill establishing “Malasakit” Centers that merely duplicate the functions of the health centers and district hospitals, telling the senior lawmaker “hindi ikakaayos ng mukha ‘nyo ang pagkontra ninyo sa interes ng mga Pilipino.”
Well said by the Adonis of Philippine politics in his maiden speech at the Senate, copying the style of his mentor Rodrigo Duterte, who thrives on insulting his critics, dishing out misogynistic slurs and threatening everyone who criticizes him. Lagman scored the pet bill of Bong Go for being a political ploy to promote the ambition of a lawmaker whom he did not name. Worse, added Lagman, the bill was being railroaded in the two houses of Congress. Why did Bong Go raise hell? It was an opportunity for him to score political points and serve notice that he could be president of the Republic in 2025. It would be unprecedented in the country’s history, with the valet succeeding the political godfather.
Lagman stuck to the issue and dismissed Bong Go’s insults and rants as puerile, unparliamentary behavior that prefigured the unwholesome conduct of Dasmarinas City Rep. Kiko Barzaga today. In retort, Bong Go slammed Lagman as “anti-poor,” selfish and callous to the dire straits of millions of Filipinos that the bleeding heart Go “serves.” To display his hubris, Go challenged Lagman to create his own “maramot” and “manhid” centers. Lagman did not heed his advice, of course, since the lawmaker, now deceased, was not harboring lofty political ambitions. Fact is, these Malasakit Centers were initiated in February 2018, when Go was still the special assistant for whatever to President Duterte. No politics there? Tell that to the Marines, Bong Go.
To date, there are 167 Malasakit Centers nationwide, 93 in Luzon, 30 in the Visayas and 44 in Mindanao. These centers duplicate the functions of the Department of Health (DOH) and the Department of Social Work and Development (DSWD), along with PhilHealth and the Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office (PCSO), all of which had to share their personnel for Bong Go’s centers. Worse, the law requires the establishment of Malasakit Centers in all public hospitals and DSWD, PhilHealth and PCSO offices. Why the rapid establishment of these centers? From 2018 onwards, these centers became propaganda hubs for Bong Go, who was running for a Senate seat in 2019. Peeved by the sight of Bong Go’s face in banners festooned in these Malasakit Centers, the Commission on Elections (Comelec) in one of its few correct actions, demanded that Bong Gong’s image and name be taken down forthwith. So much for visual pollution, poll officials and environmentalists said.
With the devolution mandated by the Local Government Code, local government units (LGUs) already provide health and financial support to indigents. Yet, why did the normally inquisitive legislators allow such a proposal to be enacted and funded by money paid by the rich and the poor in the form of direct and indirect taxes? It was Duterte’s pleasure and Go’s crying need that compelled a compliant legislature to allow such travesty of statutory construction to pass muster. True enough, the House counterpart bill, Lagman said, was a “xerox copy” of the Senate bill, and it was approved at the plenary when there was no quorum, an indication that the forces of darkness railroaded the bill. With uncanny dispatch despite legal questions on its funding, Republic Act 11463 or Malasakit Centers Act of 2019, was signed into law. Whatever Bong Go wants, Bong Go gets.
But wait, we may yet hear Bong Go’s plausible deniability at work today as the people’s attention swings to another version of graft—the scandal-ridden Super Health Center championed by Go in 2021 as an improved version of rural health units (RHUs.) A total of 878 Go-inspired SHCs got P1.4-billion from the DOH in 2024. As of Oct. 17, 2025, 300 of these 878 SHCs were not operating, 196 were operational, 17 were partially operational and 365 were under construction. Naturally, the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) had a hand on this dismal accomplishment record. Bong Go’s proclivity for megalithic structures, like the 17 satellite offices and three extension offices of seldom present Vice President Sara Zimmerman Duterte Carpio, all serve to promote political ambitions, with Go claiming his Malasakit Centers helped 17 million Filipinos, beating Sara’s 2 million beneficiaries, all cash from the largesse of the national coffers.
As retired University of the Philippines (UP) Prof. Randy David wrote in a recent column, democracy is compromised when access to food, medicines, health services, shelter and education can only be gained through the intercession of politicians. “When survival depends on the goodwill of one’s patrons, silence about their corruption and abuses becomes the price of access,” he added. “I once thought that Sen. Bong Go’s Malasakit Centers offered a way out of this feudal cycle. I was mistaken. These DOH desks merely map the labyrinth of patronage, pointing the poor to politicians who control hospital funds. They simplify dependence but do not abolish it. Still, for the poor, that small measure of help feels like service. Gratitude replaces rights,” he concluded.
How many billions of pesos have been lost by the misplaced appropriations for Malasakit Centers that also double as temples to Go? Or the P12 billion in disallowed Department of Education (DepEd) expenditures when Sara Zimmerman Duterte Carpio ruled to the roost? Or the billions wasted in the campaign to control and stop the spread of the Covid-19 pandemic? Criminal cases for plunder are supposed to be in the works against Bong Go, Sara Duterte and all those responsible for plunder, not only of flood control funds but also of the budgets of the Davao City government when the Duterte family dynasty controlled them. With their firm control of the national coffers and their legal shortcuts to justify graft, Bong Go and the Dutertes can deny 24/7 that their conscience is clear and they did not steal a single red centavo. Conscience is always clear, especially when it is not used.
