Let’s all wish Benjie Lim well

By Al S. Mendoza

I SAID it here the last time:  Buloy Al Fernandez failing to defend his crown would be news.

Said in another way, Benjie Lim reclaiming his crown in Dagupan City would be news.

It seems headed to that.

It should be a done deal by now for Benjie Lim, the contest’s result being irreversibly obvious.

As I was writing this, Benjie Lim appeared he’s clinched it.

And Benjie Lim scoring a win, I was told, warmed the hearts of many.

I can believe that.

Anyone capturing the majority, anytime, that should be cause for celebration.

My hat’s off to the new mayor.  He fought well.  He deserves everything.

As the line of a song goes, “The winner takes it all.”

As I told Gabriel Cornel, my always ebullient buddy from Binmaley DILG, Benjie Lim’s victory was the clear will of the people.

One not expected to win ought to have our admiration.

How Benjie Lim did it—score a stunning upset—should add lore to the colorful politics in Dagupan.

Why Buloy Al Fernandez absorbed a first ever defeat is grist for print and broadcast copy.

Considered a political pillar with a track record as unassailable as Cory’s presidential reign and as unknockable as the leaning tower of Pisa, Buloy Al’s defeat matches the shock we all felt when terrorists bizarrely leveled the Twin Towers to the ground.

What caused Buloy Al’s downfall should be the subject of political pundits to dissect with surgical precision.

Was his style of governance on the wane?

Or were there factors/forces that pulled him down, Buloy Al ignoring them using blind devotion to beliefs that appeared distorted from the start?

I am curious, interested, because Buloy Al is my friend.

You know, a friend is a friend is a friend.

I know he’s a good servant, a genuine leader of the people or he would not have lasted this long, would not have been elected to several terms.

Unbeaten until the last polls on May 10, Buloy Al finally tastes a first defeat.

I’m sure it would taste bitter or he isn’t human.

Anybody absorbing a first ever setback would know the feeling.

I have lost some battles myself.

Who hasn’t?

But always, it’s not in the rising but in the falling.

How you rise from the pit is what defines you.

And so it is that Buloy Al losing it is the shocker of the year in Pangasinan politics.  It resonated nationwide, Buloy Al being a darling of city mayors across the archipelago for quite a time now.

But while I know Buloy Al considers me a friend, Benjie Lim does not.

Just fine.

I have criticized Benjie Lim here not once, not twice but several times already, I guess.

So I can’t blame him if he’s sore at me.

And I will never rebuke him if he continues to consider me an enemy.  Never.

Instead, let me say it again: I wish him well.

And, in the spirit of fair play and sportsmanship, may I strongly urge everyone to support him, to rally around him and to inspire him, push him even, to make Dagupan a much better place to live in.

After all is said and done, let’s all move on.

Forgive and forget.

Bury the hatchet.

As a parting shot, do good, your honor, and you will hear from me.

Do bad, and you will also hear from me.

Please comfort the afflicted so that the comfortable will not afflict you?

The essence of democracy, they call it.

Also, press freedom.

Godspeed, Benjie.

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