Belmonte welcomes Sara Duterte, HNP bets in QC sortie

Local and national candidates of Serbisyo sa Bayan Party of Vice Mayor Joy Belmonte and Hugpong ng Pagbabago of Mayor Sara Duterte coalesce in a campaign sortie in Quezon City. Contributed photo

MANILA, Philippines–With more than 15,000 supporters in tow, Quezon City Vice Mayor Joy Belmonte of the local Serbisyo sa Bayan Party (SBP) welcomed Davao City Mayor Sara Duterte and the candidates of Hugpong ng Pagbabago (HNP) in a campaign rally at the Amoranto Stadium on Thursday. 

“We are happy to welcome once again Mayor Sara and the candidates of Hugpong in the biggest city in Metro Manila. We’re here today to show the voters that Hugpong and our candidates in Quezon City are united in our goals of true service and good governance,” Belmonte, who is running for mayor in the upcoming elections, said in an interview.

In August last year, SBP led by Belmonte formally signed an alliance with Davao City’s HNP. 

Then in November, Quezon City’s local party personally pledged its support to Mayor Duterte and the candidates endorsed by HNP.

“What President Duterte and Mayor Sara have fought for is change for the good of our country, and I, as well as my fellow candidates from the city and the national candidates we support, aim to deliver that,” Belmonte said to the audience in the jampacked stadium.

Among the senatorial candidates present during the QC sortie were reelectionists Senator Sonny Angara, Senator JV Ejercito, former Senator Jinggoy Estrada, former Senator Bong Revilla, and Taguig City Rep. Pia Cayetano.

The other HNP senatorial candidates, Ilocos Norte Gov. Imee Marcos, former Special Assistant to the President Bong Go, former Presidential adviser Francis Tolentino, General Ronald “Bato” dela Rosa, and broadcast journalist Jiggy Manicad, also joined the sortie.

Meanwhile, the delegation from the SBP was led by Belmonte, Councilor Gian Sotto, who is running for vice mayor in the 2019 elections, Representative and former House Speaker Feliciano Belmonte, and Cong. Winnie Castelo.

The candidates from Quezon City’s six districts included congressional candidates under the Hugpong-SBP alliance: Councilor Precious Hipolito-Castelo, Councilor Elizabeth Delarmente, and Councilor Jesus “Bong” Suntay, and SBP’s own party-list candidates Councilor Ranulfo Ludovica, Barangay Chairman Felecito Valmocina, and Vincent Belmonte.

Senate President Vicente “Tito” Sotto III was also present to welcome Duterte but left before the program started. /jpv