Sara Duterte-Carpio /Inquirer file photo
Davao City Mayor Sara Duterte-Carpio will be in Cebu today to forge what is described by political camps as “important partnerships.”
The President’s daughter will be signing this morning a sisterhood agreement between Davao City and Liloan town which will be represented by Mayor Ma. Esperanza Christina Frasco.
The early morning gathering will be held at the Panphil B. Frasco Memorial Sports Complex in Barangay Poblacion, Liloan town.
Mayor Frasco, in a statement sent to Cebu Daily News, said that the partnership is highly welcomed as it is seen to “promote partnership and exchange of best practices to foster mutual economic and community development.”
Frasco said the concept of forging a sisterhood agreement between the two local government units (LGUs) was conceived way back in 2016 during the campaign period.
“When Mayor Sara visited Liloan in 2016 when I was still running for Mayor and her father was running for President, we discussed the idea of entering into a sisterhood agreement given our common governance priorities, and have been in discussions since,” Frasco said.
“Signing this sisterhood with Mayor Sara today further strengthens our bond of friendship, and highlights the values we hold in common,” she added.
Both Duterte and Garcia-Frasco are running for reelection in the 2019 midterm elections in Davao and Liloan respectively.
Frasco’s camp supported President Rodrigo Duterte during the campaign in the 2016 elections.
Shortly after Duterte’s victory, former Liloan Mayor Vincent Franco Frasco, Christina’s husband, was appointed by the President as commissioner of the Cebu Port Authority in 2016.
Commissioner Frasco, who is running for congressman in the fifth district under One Cebu, the political coalition of his mother-in-law, third district Rep. Gwendolyn Garcia, said they share the vision of Duterte-Carpio’s regional party, Hugpong ng Pagbabago (HNP).
However, Duterte-Carpio’s HNP has established an alliance with the Barug Alang sa Kauswagan ug Demokrasya (Bakud), the ruling party and strong opponent of One Cebu in the fifth district.
In her visit to Cebu today, Duterte-Carpio will also meet with the group of Mandaue City Mayor Gabriel Luis Quisumbing to forge an alliance between HNP and the latter’s allies.