Davao City Mayor Sara Duterte-Carpio will run as an independent candidate should she decide to vie for the presidency in the 2022 elections, the secretary general of her party, Hugpong ng Pagbabago, said Wednesday.
President Rodrigo Duterte's daughter will not join any national party for the 2022 elections as she plans to stay with HNP, a regional party formed in Davao City, where she serves as chairperson, said former Davao Del Norte Gov. Anthony Del Rosario.
"If Mayor Sara decides to run for president in 2022, she cannot use HNP dahil regional party. So ang mangyayari po niyan ay kapag natuloy siyang tumakbo bilang presidente, she will be running as an independent," Del Rosario told reporters in a video conference.
Duterte-Carpio maintained the number one spot on Pulse Asia's June 6-17 survey of possible presidential candidates next year. The elder Duterte ws the top choice for vice president in the same poll.
Despite possibly running as an independent candidate, Del Rosario expects that the five national parties seeking alliance with HNP would help Duterte-Carpio mount a successful campaign.
"We hope that the five national parties would be able to provide the machinery needed for us to make Sara run as president," he said.
The five national parties seeking to align with HNP for the upcoming elections are the Lakas-CMD party, the National Unity Party, the Nacionalista Party, the Pwersa ng Masang Pilipino party, and the People's Reform Party.
Del Rosario said the parties have yet to finalize an agreement for their coalition in 2022.
