DAVAO City Councilor Jimmy Dureza said that Hugpong sa Tawong Lungsod Party can endorse Mayor Rodrigo Duterte's candidacy for president.
Dureza, in an interview at the sidelines of the City Council session, said the Hugpong sa Tawong Lungsod is a party accredited by the Commission on Elections (Comelec) and not just a local party.
"Hugpong sa Tawong Lungsod is not a local aggrupation. It's already a political party. In other words, if Mayor Rody decides to run for president, it's going to be Hugpong sa Tawong Lungsod that will nominate him," Dureza said.
But he added that this is just his personal opinion and not on behalf of Hugpong, citing it's been a political party since 2010.
"It's a political party just like the Partido Demokratiko Pilipino-Lakas ng Bayan (PDP-Laban), Nacionalista party or Liberal party. It is accredited by the Comelec as a political party," Dureza said.
He said final recommendations have yet to be known before the end of filing of the certificate of candidacy on October 16.
He said that in case Hugpong will be the one to endorse Duterte's presidential bid, his soon to be vice president who may come from a different party can just make an alliance with Hugpong.
"Whoever is his running mate will just make an alliance. For example, if Senator Ferdinand 'Bongbong' Marcos runs as vice president of Mayor Rody, he could maintain his party, the Nacionalista Party, but may alliance na siya sa Hugpong," Dureza said.
Dureza said this may come into reality since the city mayor is currently the head of Hugpong. He said the only disadvantage is that the Hugpong currently does not have a national structure.
"Ang disadvantage lang is the Hugpong is known locally man lang; we have not really acquired a national structure ba unlike political parties like Liberal Party and Nacionalista Party," Dureza said.
Dureza said the line-up for the Hugpong Sa Tawong Lungsod Party in Davao has yet to be discussed in a convention of executive members to be held this week or next week.
"I think those who are incumbent city councilors will be included as the official candidates of Hugpong but other vacant positions we still don't know," Dureza said.
He also said that they still don't have a candidate for Congress in the first district, while the third district representative has yet to be finalized.
Possible candidates in the first district are City Councilors Ma. Belen Sunga Acosta and Councilor Leonardo R. Avila III.
For the second district, Mylene Garcia-Albano would stay as she still has a last term, he added.
"We’ll just wait until the filing of the certificate of candidacy," Dureza said.
Meanwhile, Dureza is quite sure that Davao City Mayor will file his bid for presidency and his candidacy may be filed by authorized persons in Manila.
Dureza also said that even if Vice Mayor Paolo Duterte already filed his resignation to the Hugpong Party, there is still a slim chance that the vice mayor would go against his sister, former mayor Inday Sara Duterte.
"Personally, I don't think that it will happen blood is always thicker than water," Dureza said.
He added that it will not look good in front of Dabawenyos.
"I don't think it will look good also for Dabawenyos managsuon gud sila. Naa jud na siya'y happy compromise (I don't think it will look good also for the Davawenyos since they are siblings. Surely, there would be a happy compromise)," Dureza said.