The Lakas-Christian Muslim Democrats is joining forces with the influential regional party Hugpong ng Pagbabago and the Tingog Sinirangan party-list group for next year’s midterm elections.
Lakas officials led by party president Martin Romualdez, Leyte Rep. Yedda Marie Kittilstvedt-Romualdez, and their political allies from the countryside will forge the “alliance agreement” with Hugpong and Tingog Wednesday at the Tacloban Astrodome.
HNP is the regional party of President Rodrigo Duterte’s daughter, Davao City Mayor Sara Duterte Carpio, while Tingog is the Leyte-based party-list group to be bannered by Kittilstvedt-Romualdez in the May 2019 polls.
“It is just a formality because both parties have already been aligned in principle before. We share the same mission, beliefs, vision and thrusts with Mayor Sara’s Hugpong ng Pagbabago,” said Romualdez, an independent bloc leader of the 16th Congress and a three-term Leyte congressman.
“Mayor Sara will be our guest of honor and keynote speaker together with other HNP-supported senatorial candidates,” added Romualdez, a lawyer and president of the Philippine Constitution Association.
“We are all committed to push President Duterte’s agenda for the nation’s growth and improve the lives of the people in the countryside,” he said.
Yedda Romualdez, Martin’s wife and the first nominee of Tingog Sinirangan, said her group shared Lakas-CMD and Mayor Sara’s commitment to always give priority to the Filipinos’ interests over and above everything else.
“We always uphold our mandate to serve the people and acknowledge our commitment to ensure that sustainable economic reforms are implemented and will be felt by ordinary people,” said Romualdez, the chairman of the House Committee on Accounts.
The alliance, she added, would further strengthen Tingog’s programs to create jobs, build decent housing, sustain peace and order, fight criminality and eliminate poverty.
The signing of the alliance agreement will take place at the Tacloban Astrodome on the eve of the fifth anniversary of Super Typhoon “Yolanda” (International name “Haiyan”) that devastated Leyte’s provincial capital and other areas in Eastern Visayas in 2013.
READ: Lakas, Tingog, Hugpong seal alliance
Earlier, Romualdez said Lakas-CMD will support the senatorial bets endorsed by Duterte-Carpio’s party in the 2019 midterm election.
Among those included in the list were reelectionist Senators Sonny Angara, Cynthia Villar and Joseph Victor Ejercito, Ilocos Norte Gov. Imee Marcos, Taguig City Rep. Pia Cayetano, and others.
The Lakas-CMD will field former Senator Ramon Revilla Jr., Lakas-CMD chairman, and Willie Ong as their senatorial candidates.
READ: Hugpong, Tingog party list join forces