Sara rejoins Hugpong ng Pagbabago

DAVAO CITY, Philippines – Mayor Sara Duterte-Carpio has rejoined Hugpong ng Pagbabago (HNP), the regional political party she founded and had given up to join Lakas-Christian Democrats as its vice presidential bet.

President Duterte’s daughter had thought she had to give up HNP on concerns over possible conflict with Lakas-CMD’s by-laws.

But finding out there was none, she decided to rejoin HNP as Southern Mindanao regional party chair.

As chair of Lakas-CMD, she presided over a national council meeting the other day.

Duterte-Carpio met with the core group of the HNP yesterday afternoon and took her oath again as HNP member and as party chair.

The vice presidential candidate was sworn back into HNP by its president Davao Occidental Gov. Claude Bautista.

“We are happy that she is back with us in the HNP. HNP is Sara Duterte. She founded the group and she is the face of HNP,” Bautista told The STAR.

Davao de Oro Gov. Tyron Uy likewise said they welcome Duterte-Carpio back into HNP.

Bautista and Uy were joined yesterday by Davao Oriental Gov. Nelson Dayanghirang and former Davao de Oro governor Arthur Uy and Davao del Norte Gov. Anthony del Rosario in welcoming Duterte-Carpio back. The group met for three hours to discuss party direction.

A possible alliance with the Partidong Masang Pilipino with former president Joseph Estrada is reportedly also in the works.

Meanwhile, a survey by research firm Publicus Asia Inc. showed former senator Ferdinand Marcos Jr. and Duterte-Carpio topping preferences for president and vice president for next year’s national elections.

The firm’s Pahayag Final List survey was conducted from Nov. 16 to 18 after the deadline for substitution of candidates. The Publicus survey showed Marcos maintaining his lead in presidential preferences with 56.7 percent while Duterte-Carpio emerged on top of the vice presidential preferences with 54 percent.

Their tandem led across all regional groups in the survey that the firm claimed was non-commissioned. Marcos’ rating represented a seven-point gain from the previous 49 percent.

Vice President Leni Robredo kept her position in second place with 15.4 percent, or a six-point drop from her previous rating.

Manila Mayor Isko Moreno Domagoso also remained in third place with 6.9 percent, followed by Senators Bong Go at 4.1 percent, Manny Pacquiao at three percent and Panfilo Lacson at 2.9 percent.

In the vice presidential poll, Duterte-Carpio led over the other candidates across all regions.

Senate President Vicente Sotto III was in second place at 10 percent, a sizeable drop from his numbers in recent surveys.

The decline in Sotto’s numbers placed him in a virtual tie with Sen. Francis Pangilinan and Dr. Willie Ong – with all three polling close to 10 percent.

In the same survey, a majority or around 58 percent of respondents indicated that they would prefer that their presidential and vice presidential picks belong to a tandem. Around 42 percent chose the Marcos and Duterte-Carpio tandem.

The survey had 1,500 respondents from a market research panel of over 200,000 Filipinos maintained by the Singapore office of US-based firm Purespectrum . –  Edu Punay