PARTY MATES Davao City Mayor Sara Duterte and one of the founding members of her now political party Hugpong ng Pagbabago, Davao Occidental Gov. Claude Bautista, during Sara’s visit to the province on June 9. —ARJOY CENIZA
DAVAO CITY — The group that Mayor Sara Duterte Carpio formed to boost support for her father, President Rodrigo Duterte, has transformed into a political party that would reach out to allies nationwide and could launch the election bids of Mr. Duterte’s most trusted aide and his erstwhile police chief.
Hugpong ng Pagbabago (HNP, or Movement for Change) would be available as a vehicle for the launch of the political careers of Christopher Lawrence “Bong” Go, the President’s most trusted aide, and Ronald “Bato” dela Rosa, former Philippine National Police chief and now head of the Bureau of Corrections.
In a press briefing here, the mayor said Go and Dela Rosa could count on HNP should they decide to test the political waters in next year’s midterm elections for local and national officials, including senators.
Accreditation
The mayor made the announcement after the Commission on Elections accredited her group as a political party.
She also reiterated she would not be seeking a national position in the coming elections.
“I don’t have a definite plan for a national position,” she said.
After its accreditation as a political party, the mayor’s HNP would go nationwide to form alliances with local parties and political blocs and accept new members from other regions in the country, she said in her press briefing.
“We will start swearing in new members and invite more to join us,” she told reporters.
She said the first batch of new members would be sworn in on July 1 in Davao Oriental.
Founding members
Her political party has four governors of the Davao region as its founding members — Davao del Norte Gov. Anthony del Rosario, Compostela Valley province Gov. Jaycee Tyron Uy, Davao Oriental Gov. Nelson Dayanghirang and Davao Occidental Gov. Claude Bautista.
HNP is being seen as a “direct threat” in next year’s midterm elections to the mainstream administration Partido Demokratiko Pilipino-Lakas ng Bayan (PDP-Laban), which is headed by Speaker Pantaleon Alvarez.
Mayor Duterte and Alvarez engaged in a word war recently after the Speaker had been quoted as saying that she had been forming an opposition group.
The mayor went on an outburst over the comments, which Alvarez denied making.
Recruitment
PDP-Laban has been on a massive recruitment binge, taking in mostly members of the once dominant Liberal Party of former President Benigno Aquino III.
Some members of PDP-Laban in Mindanao had questioned the recruitment process for alleged lack of consultation with original party members but Alvarez and another PDP-Laban leader, Sen. Aquilino “Koko” Pimentel III, said the recruitment process followed party rules.
Describing the planned alliances with other local parties as informal, the mayor said political groups aligning with HNP would not lose their identities, though.
“These local parties would still exist in their areas in the provinces,” she said.
Aside from Go and Dela Rosa, the mayor said her HNP was also eyeing Sen. JV Ejercito as part of the party’s Senate ticket. —Frinston Lim