Mayor Sara, Davao governors to launch new region-wide party

DAVAO CITY – Mayor Sara DuterteCarpio will be leading regional political party “Hugpong ng Pagbabago (HNP),” which aims to consolidate local support for the administration of President Rodrigo Duterte.

Duterte will spearhead the new party together with the and four governors in the Davao region, namely, Davao Occidental Gov. Claude Bautista, Davao del Norte Gov. Antonio del Rosario, Compostela Valley Gov. Jayvee Tyron Uy, and Davao Oriental Gov. Nelson Dayanghirang.

The move comes midway into the term of local government officials, as 2018 will be seeing the registration of candidates for next year's local elections.

Davao City Information Officer Jefry Tupas said, in a message sent to reporters, the party will be comprised of four governors from the Davao Region, with Mayor Duterte as the party chair.

The party will be launched Friday at the Royal Mandaya Hotel here with around 500 members expected to attend.

This early, it appears that the regional political party is not formally affiliated with the President’s Partido ng Demokratikong Pilipino-Lakas ng Bayan (PDP-Laban).

HNP was likely inspired by the Dutertes local party, the Hugpong sa Tawong Lungsod.

It remains unclear if Hugpong will affiliated itself with HNP. (Yas D. Ocampo)