All political roads lead to the presidential daughter’s political party, it appears, what with its formation of a super coalition with other political parties. Local and national parties are drawn to Hugpong ng Pagbabago (HnP), the regional party formed and chaired by the presidential daughter, Davao City Mayor Sara Duterte.

HnP has forged an alliance with six regional political parties and three national parties, namely, the Nacionalista Party (NP), the Nationalist People’s Coalition (NPC) and National Unity Party (NUP).

The six local parties are the Ilocano Timpuyog, Alyansa Bol-anon Alang sa Kausaban, Aggrupation of Party for Progress, Kambilan, PaDayon Pilipino and Serbisyo sa Bayan Party. This supercoalition composed of national and regional parties was formed and agreed upon, signed, sealed and delivered very recently.

Absent in Sara’s super coalition is the ruling party identified with President Duterte, the Partido Demokratiko Pilipino (PDP), with whom the presidential daughter and the then Speaker, Pantaleon Alvarez, had a running feud. Sara is said to be the brains behind Alvarez’s ouster as Speaker and replaced him with now Speaker Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo.

Even non-politicians can understand why there is this political exodus to Sara’s regional party, the HnP, since Filipino politicians are known political butterflies and have been for years flitting from one political party to another—especially their flitting to the party that is seen as influential with the Malacañang tenant.

What is a bit difficult to understand is why several regional parties have attached themselves to the presidential daughter’s party, given that these parties are regional parties and have their own local bets running, such as bets for a councilor’s seat or a district congressional bet, or a candidate for governor, mayor and any other local elective seat.

These local politicians hardly have any need of votes from the other regional and local parties that are aligned with HnP. As a matter of fact, even Sara will not need the votes from other regional parties. What then is the use of a super coalition formed with HnP?

It could be said that national parties may be in need of a bit of support from Sara’s HnP to get some votes from some of other regional parties aligned with the presidential daughter’s political party.

But this hardly makes sense since instead of the national party and the regional parties being united, the regional parties and the national party, which will be fielding their local bets would be rivals.

It will be the regional bets that will be supported by the respective regional parties.

It would be the height of political stupidity if national bets who have local candidates running will be supporting the regional bets as well as their own bets.

What then do the national parties get out of aligning themselves with HnP by way of helping their own local bets who may just be their political foes, before and during the elections?

Nothing by way of political support for local candidates as well as congressional candidates.

However, the three national parties that have aligned themselves with the presidential daughter’s regional party, may get political support from the HnP and other regional parties for their senatorial run—assuming that the HnP and its supercoalition have that kind of national clout to carry senatorial candidates for whom Sara and her HnP have declared electoral support.

Maybe the presidential daughter has, maybe not. Some senatorial bets running for reelection are obviously banking on political support from regional parties. However, they cannot bank on regional support as the 2019 election is not a presidential election wherein presidential candidates need regional political parties for vote support.

Then too, national parties have their own party senatorial slates, usually numbering 12. Other national parties have just one or two senatorial candidates but are still deemed national parties, as they have been registered as such.

For argument’s sake, let us take the NPC, which is a national party that is a more stable political party, having succeeded throughout many years making some of their senatorial candidates and even congressional candidates win seats. They have hardly succeeded in forming a majority in say, the House or the Senate for that matter. However, the NPC winners more often align themselves with the party in power.

Since the PDP is out of the presidential daughter’s super coalition, it is expected to field its own set of senatorial bets as well as regional bets.

What happens then to the senatorial bets of other national parties that are aligned with HnP, considering that PDP will have its own senatorial bets and won’t likely support other senatorial bets, such as the NP and NPC for starters?

And will President Duterte endorse the senatorial bets of HnP rather than the PDP under which party he ran for the presidency?

The question is, will the super coalition of regional parties give their full support to the national party—whether NP, NUP, Lakas, NPC senatorial candidates, should the presidential daughter state unequivocally that the super coalition is supporting her choice of senatorial candidates?

And how long will the supposed clout of HnP and its super coalition last once the Malacañang tenant, President Duterte, finishes his term?