‘Hugpong’ now a political party

HUGPONG sa Tawong Lungsod (Hugpong), a aDavao City-based political organization composed of leaders affiliated with former city mayor, now Vice Mayor Rodrigo Duterte, formally registered itself as a political party March 28 with the Commission on Elections (Comelec).
City Mayor Sara Z. Duterte-Carpio said Hugpong is currently in the middle of “carving out” a political party out of its membership.
“Karon man gud (Now) it’s just a group, an informal group and they want to create a political party out of it,” the mayor said Wednesday.
Hugpong beat the March 30 deadline for registration of political parties. The deadline is provided for in Comelec Resolution 9294 approved in October 2011.
Duterte-Carpo said the decision to file a petition for registration to become a political party was reached unanimously.
Being an unregistered political party before, Hugpong had to affiliate itself with political parties in previous elections, like PDP Laban, Liberal Party, the NPC and Lakas, among others.
Advantage
The advantage in becoming a formal political party, the city mayor said, is in solidifying support it will receive in the 2013 local elections and avoiding conflict among members of Hugpong simply because of politics.
“Para mas kusog ang pagsuporta sa kandidato they will be coming up with a full slate under Hugpong from city mayor, to the councilors, to the congressional representative of each district,” Duterte-Carpio explained.
The Comelec  Resolution 9294 states that any organized group or persons may register as a party, organization or coalition for purposes of the party-list system.
The petition should be filed not later than 90 days before the election, and as declared in the Comelec Resolution, the deadline for the filing is on March 30.  [JCZ]