On Jun. 4, Senator Bong Go called out government agencies’ slow response in providing aid to COVID-19 infected health workers. In his privilege speech, he says: “Bakit po nangyari ito? Dumaan ang Abril, dumaan ang Mayo, ngayon Hunyo na. Hanggang ngayon, hindi pa naibibigay ang benepisyo na dapat matanggap ng ating health workers o ng kanilang mga pamilyang naulila.”
He kept calling out the agencies on air. And then, we spotted something—a caricature of Sen. Bong Go and President Duterte as Batman and Robin in the background.
Besides this caricature, he also has a figurine of the president, a matryoshka doll of himself, a bobblehead and a mini figurine of himself in a glass case. Well, color us amused.
He reminded undersecretaries and other executive branch government officials to help their higher-ups during this time of crisis. During his speech, he threatens them, saying, “Kung ayaw nyong magtrabaho, eh ‘di umalis na kayo. Ginagawa na nga ng Pangulo ang lahat, eh ang mga tao sa baba ayaw tumulong, ayaw gumalaw, umalis na kayo.”
Go has strong opinions regarding the branches’ slow response to infected frontliners. But when he ended his speech, he refused to be questioned by his colleagues.
“I’m willing to be interpellated but in this issue, it is my privilege and we will waste time if you will ask more questions,” explains Go. “Remember that we are colleagues here, we are elected by the people and we are all senators. I am not your student, and you are not my proctor.”
In these trying times where nothing makes sense, I turn to Waka Flocka for guidance:
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This site tracks how the gov’t is using our COVID-19 budget