HERE’S THE ACTUAL PHOTO OF BONG GO’S HEROIC JETSKI RESCUE OF CAPT. PINOL

(Photo caption: Vice Mayor Duterte’s Exec. Asst. Bong Go, negotiates the floodwaters reaching the rooftops of the homes of the Jade Valley Subdivision during the floods last month. Riding at the back of the jetski is my brother, ship Capt. Celso Pinol, who was rescued by Bong, along with my nephew, Nico Pinol. Photo taken by Benjie Selga.)

Last month, as flash floods inundated villages along the mighty Davao River, I called up Vice Mayor Rody Duterte’s executive assistant, Bong Go, to help organize a rescue team for my brother, ship captain Celso Pinol and his son, Nico, who were on the roof of their home in Jade Valley Subdivision.

Failing to find a rubber boat to rescue my brother, Bong Go decided to borrow a jetski from a friend and undertook a perilous but heroic act of saving my brother and many others who were also marooned in the rising floodwaters.

Last week, I saw a copy of a Davao City newspaper, the Mindanao Journal, published and edited by my friend, Jun Ledesma, and in the front page was the photo of the actual rescue taken by an amateur photographer.

Iinitially, I was not able to give credit to the photographer who took the shots because I was not able to get his name.

Today, however, Mindanao Journal publisher Jun Ledesma posted a message and identified the photographer as Benjie Selga.

His snapshot will now give people an idea of the daring and heroic rescue made by the otherwise low-key and taciturn executive assistant of my compadre, Rody Duterte, who is also the incoming mayor of Davao City.