The political cauldron waxed hot yesterday as Davao City Mayor Sara Duterte-Carpio named her nine personal choices for senators in the mid-term elections.

Duterte-Carpio named her personal preferences as Ilocos Norte Gov. Imee Marcos, Senators JV Ejercito, Sonny Angara and Cynthia Villar, former Metro Manila Development Authority (MMDA) chairman Francis Tolentino, presidential spokesman Harry Roque, Presidential Communications Operations Office (PCOO) Secretary Martin Andanar, Bureau of Corrections (BuCor) chief Ronald “Bato” dela Rosa and Special Assistant to the President (SAP) Christopher Lawrence “Bong” Go.

The party that Duterte-Carpio founded, Hugpong ng Pagbabago (HnP), will endorse its own eight candidates for the senatorial race separate from the personal list of the President’s daughter.

An HnP source said the party will make public its own list of senatoriables.

“Mayor Inday will help everyone. She is not the kind to say no to helping. After all, the choice is still up to the voters,” according to the source.

The source said Duterte-Carpio will not join the senatorial fray and will seek instead a re-election as Davao City Mayor Duterte-Carpio said in HnP’s social media page that the party was not made to go on a national level. “We just wanted to create a strong Region XI,” she added.

At the House of Representatives, Camarines Sur Rep. Rolando Andaya Jr. was named House Majority Leader and the Chairman of the House Committee on Rules to settle the lingering question on the House leadership.

Andaya said “quite a handful” of congressmen are seeking a coalition in which HnP will have a pivotal role. “So probably a party like Lakas could take this opportunity to rebuild and come up with a coalition,” Andaya said.

“We did not foresee this growing interest of other politicians from other regions,” Duterte-Carpio, however, said.

“It will be a difficult decision to go national and I am not ready to decide on it right now. Even the other officers are not keen on deciding on this. But we are set to create alliances with other groups to help each other,” she added.

“There are no talks with national parties, only local parties,” Carpio said.

Ejercito is joining the Nationalist People’s Coalition (NPC) apparently to further boost his reelection bid in next year’s mid-term polls.

Senate President Vicente Sotto III said Ejercito, who is a member of the Partido ng Masang Pilipino (PMP) established by his father former President and now Manila Mayor Joseph Estrada, will be joining NPC.

Sotto is a senior adviser of the NPC, founded by business tycoon Eduardo “Danding” Cojuangco.

In a separate interview, Ejercito confirmed he already talked with Sotto regarding his planned transfer from PMP to NPC.

“I am considering it. I talked with Senator Sotto about the possibility because, first of all, that is a big factor because our SP (Senate President) is with NPC and while I have some other options, NPC is the best because I am comfortable; I have a lot of friends at NPC,” Ejercito said.

The realignment at the House started right after the naming of Pampanga Rep. Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo as Speaker. The so-called Makabayan bloc composed of left-wing House members and the so-called Magnificent 7 led by Albay Rep. Edcel Lagman coalesced with the Liberal Party (LP) to form an alliance that contested recognition as the minority group.

The LP having abstained from the speakership vote said the party has the rightful claim as the minority group but there was no change at the House configuration as Minority Leader Danilo Suarez retained his post yesterday.

Ejercito said he welcomes being named among Duterte-Carpio’s personal choices for next year’s polls.

“I am quite confident that NPC and Hugpong will be the right combination for my reelection,” he added.

Ejercito also stressed that it will not look good if he and half-brother former Sen. Jinggoy Estrada will run under one political party.

“It looks bad, if ever the two of us push through with our candidacies under one political party…it will look like a family party,” Ejercito said.

He said he would talk soon to Estrada to formally inform his father about his plan to transfer to NPC, which incidentally was the Manila mayor’s party when he ran and won the vice presidency in 1998 in tandem with Cojuangco.