Dropping leanings and affiliations, what we saw last week at the official start of the campaign period for the 13 May national midterm elections was the confirmation of a new political order leading back to Davao City.

That all politics is local was highlighted by the presence of two powerful women who endorsed a hodgepodge of personalities but who looked like the administration’s official bets. But they are not.

Each of the 13 candidates endorsed by the Hugpong ng Pagbabago (HnP) must even compete with each other’s votes. We are allowed to pick just 12 senators. That is just a dozen and one of them must go. That is if Hugpong would clinch a sweep.

But Hugpong is only serving as an avenue for the once unlikely alliance of candidates from all political leanings and persuasions.

The list has all the political colors one could imagine. Except for red, most advocates have learned from their past alliance with the Nacionalista Party and then, of late, with Grace Poe. They just can’t be anywhere and everywhere. Even their alliance with President Rodrigo Duterte was tested and it failed.

But Hugpong has a Marcos, those who worked for the Marcos patriarch, former dilawan and once strong allies of the Aquinos, the new blood, the old blood and all sorts of ingredients to make an entertaining list. At this moment, that is all what all candidates could give — entertainment.

But the run up to the polls will become a more serious matter for all them. They will have to have their own takes on issues — from the nonsense to the vulgar and from the absurd to the brain-testing contest of intelligence, which we hope to see from each and every one of them.

But for now, they will sing. They will dance. They will promise heaven and project being grounded.

For some, they are mere distractions. But under this system, normalcy and democracy is projected via elections. Its results mirror the trends and thoughts of the populace, no matter how right or wrong their choices are.

But before lining themselves up to the people, they queued first at the Davao City Hall. They all sought Sara Duterte-Carpio’s blessings.

The Hugpong campaign kick-off was a display of Duterte-Carpio’s growing political power and influence, whether she likes it or not.

That show in San Fernando, Pampanga — all 1,594.3 kilometers away from Davao City, where Duterte-Carpio holds sway as mayor — was a validation of her status as national political timber. Presidential, others have proclaimed.

That is the hush now. Sara Duterte-Carpio, President Rodrigo Duterte’s daughter, is presidentiable material.

Among the various persuasions kicked out of the limelight by the rock star Rody in 2016, their talks now center on another Duterte cementing and continuing what Rody will leave as his legacy.

But none of the 13 Hugpong candidates would say that. Duterte-Carpio won’t admit that.

But many politicos have started staking their lots on Sara. Their alliance with Hugpong is an investment. They are hoping for good political returns. If not now, then maybe in 2022.

They were not the only ones who lined up for Sara’s blessings. But they were the lucky ones chosen.

It is an aberration in the order, however, that HnP seems taking the lead in the polls. Hugpong is merely a local political aggrupation. It never once figured in the national political scene. It was in the background in 2016, when Rody won the presidency.

But even it does not try, Hugpong seems the major political party in play.

Rody’s party, the Partido Demokratiko Pilipino (PDP), did not put up a full slate of 12 candidates. Ironic that it was the party to join soon after May 2016. But things changed after that.

Even hopefuls with diamond-studded surnames sought Duterte-Carpio’s nod. She alone has managed to complete a full slate, with an extra name to boot. It could have been two until former presidential spokesman Harry Roque withdrew early in the race.

The Liberal Party (LP), also once the most powerful political force in the land, can only manage to field eight names. It will be an uphill climb for all them, including its most senior candidate who once dreamed of becoming Philippine president.

The LP, like the PDP — both national parties — have stepped aside for the Hugpong.

The PDP was also a victim of internal wrangling among supporters of the President. And when it offered convenience, they went on to support Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo. It was she who gave Duterte-Carpio her first real foray into national politics. Gloria, too, had laid her own investment for her future.

Gloria has her own climb to restart. An alliance with Hugpong is very convenient, for now. She knows Duterte-Carpio could be the future, could be her future.

She nixed offers to make a run for a senatorial show.

She turned down an opportunity to shift from local to national politics by seeking a congressional seat that she is sure to win.

She wanted to stay on as Davao City mayor.

It seems a replay of an old story, that one which brought a Duterte to Malacañang.

But this early, those closest to Duterte-Carpio’s circle are saying the lady is worth the weight being attributed to her.

The midterm elections, they say, is not the yardstick to what remains of Rody’s support in the last three years of his term. Instead, they are the barometer to Duterte-Carpio’s rising.