Bong Go shows back to belie drug links

During a press conference in Prosperidad, Agusan del Sur, Go took off his white campaign polo shirt, proving that he has no tattoo on his back, and then put on his other red campaign shirt. (ALFRED FRIAS/PRESIDENTIAL FILE PHOTO)

To belie accusations linking him to illegal drug trade, former Special Assistant to the President (SAP) Christopher “Bong” Go showed his bare back in front of members of the media on Wednesday, April 10.

During a press conference in Prosperidad, Agusan del Sur, Go took off his white campaign polo shirt and then put on his other red campaign polo shirt. It was clearly shown that the senatorial hopeful has no tattoo on his back but only marks caused by  ventosa massage.

“Okay na? Klaro ha (Okay? It is clear, right)?” he told reporters, continuing “Sana matapos na itong storya (I hope this story ends).”

Go did such move after a video entitled “Ang Totoong Narcolist – Episode 3” features a certain “Bikoy,” a former member of a “big drug syndicate” that operates in Southern Luzon and Visayas region, said that Go has a “dragon tattoo” on his back that bears an alphanumeric code “COATLIBRA-0018” of his alleged drug transactions.

It was also said in the video that Go, who allegedly uses the codename “TESOROGOLF-TSG002,” owns four accounts in different local banks where the drug money is supposedly funneled and that the former aide of President Rodrigo Duterte is “one of the leaders” in the drug syndicate.

Go, however, slammed Bikoy and said the video was a form of “black propaganda” against him.

“Ito si Bikoy nagiging kengkoy ka na eh. Ikaw na lang ang lumantad. Alam kong isa ka sa mga drug lord at alam kong tinatamaan kayo sa kampanya namin ni Pangulong Duterte laban sa droga (This Bikoy is becoming a ‘kengkoy.’ You should reveal yourself. I know you are one of the drug lords and I know that you are affected by President Duterte and I’s campaign against illegal drugs),” he said, adding that Bikoy’s ‘day will come.’

Malacañang earlier challenged those behind the video to file charges against Go if their allegations were true.

“It’s so easy to write a story and do a movie or video out of that,” Presidential Spokesperson Salvador Panelo said in a press briefing on Monday.

“Eh kung totoo iyon, ‘di sana nag-file na sila ng mga charges. Wala naman silang pina-file. So ibig sabihin, hindi totoo (If that is true, then they should have filed charges already. But they are not filing anything, so that means that it is not true),” he added.

The first episode of the said video had earlier linked former Davao City Vice Mayor and Presidential son Paolo Duterte to illegal drugs, which the latter had denied. The younger Duterte blamed opposition Senator Antonio Trillanes IV to be behind the video, however, the lawmaker said he was not part of it but “wished” that he was.

[READ: Trillanes on video linking Paolo Duterte to drugs: I really wish I was part of the making]

The second part of the video also linked Duterte’s youngest child, Veronica, and partner Honeylet Avanceña to the drug trade, but the latter also belied such claim in a text message she sent to GMA News.