Sal Panelo Drops Sara Supports Bong Go or Robin Padilla for President

Did former presidential legal adviser and lawyer Sal Panelo just admit vice president Sara Duterte’s presidential bid is a no go?

He might as well have said it outright. You can pretty much line up everything he has said about the impeachment of vice president Duterte with his latest statement in the Philippine Star and infer correctly that he sees the younger Duterte’s chances of running for president in 2028 sputtering.

Philippine Star quotes him saying, ‘Yung mga taga-Mindanao, gusto nga nila ako ang ka-tandem ni Inday Sara as vice president. Pero ako, may kandidato ako, either si Robin or si Bong Go. Papasok lang ako dyan kung pareho sila hindi tatakbo.”

It’s a typical bullshit sandwich Panelo loves to serve up to the DDS audience as an assertion of support but what he is really doing is just testing which of the three names he mentioned actually resonate.

The way he said it, he already rejected Vice President Duterte. Called Senator Padilla by his first name — indicating somewhat of a closer affiliation, which is not unlikely being somewhat within the circle of entertainment celebrities. Then mentioned Sen. Bong Go last — which, a politician says, is a way to emphasize a series of names mentioned thus increasing the chances of people remembering it.

Of the three names mentioned, Senator Bong Go IS the better choice and the reasons should be obvious.

He is a consistent in his advocacy for public health — almost always seen on social media either distributing all sorts of ayuda and regularly taking up the floor to speak about public health concerns. Add to this, there was recently some kind of accolade given to Go for being one of the best Senators or something like that.

Although former Senator Antonio Trillanes claims he’ll be arrested in connection with the case against former president Rodrigo Duterte, I haven’t come across a news item recently that would confirm if this is still a claim that Trillanes is holding on to.

But yeah, if I were asked which of the three people mentioned by Panelo would make a good choice for President, I would have to go with Bong Go as the most viable and palatable among the three.