By Dave Albarado
TAGBILARAN CITY - President's daughter and Davao City Mayor Sara Duterte-Carpio is now forging alliances in a bid to boost her regional party's agenda by having partners in various regions in the country and one of the stops is Bohol.
Davao City Mayor Sara Duterte-Carpio (RICHARD MADELO/PRESIDENTIAL PHOTO / MANILA BULLETIN)
Duterte-Carpio graced the launch of the Alyansa Bol-anon Alang sa Kausaban (Boholano Alliance for Change) or ABAKA on Friday representing her regional party Hugpong ng Pagbabago (Coalition for Change) or HNP.
The Davao City Mayor took the opportunity to visit Bohol and personally thank the Boholanos for the support and votes her father got during the last Presidential Elections in 2016.
She has been forging alliances so that other regional groups can share the vision of her own regional party and to boost the capabilities to be heard by the national government.
HNP is a Commission on Elections-recognized regional party operating in Region 11. Duterte-Carpio pointed out a point in the history of the party was the misunderstanding between her and House Speaker Pantaleon Alvarez.
She said there is not much issues in Davao City. Duterte-Carpio said during the tenure of her father as mayor of Davao City he relied on the Internal Revenue Allotment (IRA) and other sources of funds to finance the projects of the city.
However, Duterte-Carpio said there are other local government units that are unlike Davao City, with a solid financial capability.
The smaller local government units, said Duterte-Carpio, the national government refuses to listen to their needs.
She said a dialog happened with Davao region governors to put up a united front since the issues among the local government units transcend the local boundaries. Davao City has been absorbing the socio-economic struggles of other places in Davao region, said the president's daughter, since these people are unable to find employment opportunities in their own places.
HNP is formed to "create a strong region" for Davaoenoes and to arrest poverty, said Duterte-Carpio. To get attention of those in national government, the president's daughter said, the group hatched the idea of block voting to enhance the people's voice.
She said HNP being a regional party, it is limited to its home region. In this regard, the HNP is aligning with like minded organizations and movement such as the ABAKA in other provinces or regions which have similar struggles and need to get the attention of the national leaders for help in development and poverty alleviation.
"We think if we become a bigger voice, kusog na ang tingog sa Davao region ug apilan mi ug tingog sa mga Bol-anon dili na gayud sila ka dili sa atong gusto (if Davao region's voice gets stronger and with the voice of the Boholanos they (national officials) could no longer refuse on what we want)," Duterte-Carpio said.
ABAKA Chairman Norris Oculam said the movement is a solid support to help President Duterte to institute change. ABAKA seeks to instigate a paradigm shift in the political scene in Bohol.
Oculam said that the people should unite to rally behind the vision of the president to eradicate the drug problem, graft and corruption, and poverty reduction.
"We should be responsible for choosing the right leaders for our province, para lalo pang umasenso ang probinsya ng Bohol," Oculam said.
ABAKA is not only gearing to support candidates for 2019, but to continuously seek the right leaders with great vision to help in the development of Bohol.