HOW far would the rift between former House speaker Pantaleon Alvarez and presidential daughter Sara Duterte split the pro-administration camp? That’s a question supporters of President Rodrigo Duterte will surely be asking as the 2019 mid-term elections near.
Alvarez is with the Partido Demokratilko Pilipino-Lakas ng Bayan (PDP-Laban), the party that carried Duterte to the presidency in 2016 and which many big-name politicians at the local level have aligned with. Sara formed the regional party Hugpong ng Pagbabago (HNP) for the Davao region in 2017 but she has already made known her intention for HNP to forge alliances with other local parties.
The HNP should be differentiated from the Kilusang Pagbabago (KP) that Cabinet Secretary Leoncio Evasco attempted to establish into a nationwide organization but which failed to excite politicians at the local level and whose creation instead sparked suspicions in terms of motivation.
The feeling seems to be mutual because the KP, considering Evasco and the other KP prominent leaders’ activist background, is also inherently suspicious of the motives of politicians. Considering that HNP has Sara’s backing, it looks like this party is the one being embraced by politicians.
When the HNP was launched in February last year, Sen. Aquilino Pimentel III, the PDP-Laban president, raised the possibility that both his party and HNP may be fielding contending bets in the Davao region. That could actually extend to regions where local politicians could be outmaneuvered in PDP-Laban positioning, like in Cebu province’s third district.
Who will PDP-Laban favor in the congressional race in the district between, say, former congressman Pablo John Garcia and Tuburan Mayor Aljun Diamante? Would party support for Diamante push the Garcias to the HNP embrace? Is the HNP willing to go that far?
The same can be asked in Cebu City where Vice Mayor Edgardo Labella is the PDP-Laban chief. Would Mayor Tomas Osmeña be able to find ways to get HNP support? Incidentally, a statement early on by Osmeña on the illegal drugs problem did not sit well with Sara and it could have affected their relation. As of now, Osmeña seems closer to Evasco’s KP than Sara’s HNP. But who knows what will happen in the coming months?
Interestingly, Evasco’s clout with the president got a beating on the issue of rice importation. Duterte resolved Evasco’s rift with National Food Authority Administrator Jason Aquino by transferring the supervision over the NFA to the Department of Agriculture and Secretary Emmanuel Piñol.
I am sure the PDP-Laban leadership is hoping that HNP would not go beyond the Davao region and instead leave the national effort of the pro-Duterte politicians to PDP-Laban. But that setup happening is getting dimmer by the day. And considering how politicians operate, a good number of them will surely be whispering into Sara’s ear for the HNP to rival the PDP-Laban.
Finally, would the president step in and rein in his daughter? What we know is that Sara is independent-minded and the president usually allows her to do what she wants to do. Which makes the 2019 elections crucial for the unity in the Duterte camp.