THEY were bitter enemies during the campaign, but both candidates have proven to be gentlemen and statesmen in both victory and defeat.

Dagupan City Mayor Benjamin Lim has conceded defeat to House Speaker Jose de Venecia Jr. who won by a wide margin in the fourth district congressional race.

In his press statement dated May 17, Lim said his intentions for running against what he calls as the “most powerful man in the country today” was simply “to give life to democracy by giving the people a choice.”

Lim said he respects the will of   the majority and appealed to the victors to now be true in serving the constituents even beyond elections.

De Venecia, for his part, said in a press statement that his victory should never alienate his enemies.

“It should signal reconciliation among all of us. Let us now start to heal the wound of this political war so that our nation can move forward,” he added.

Both Lim and De Venecia are from this city, however, the speaker got 40,429 votes while Lim had 21,896. In the other towns within the district (Manaoag, Mangaldan, San Fabian and San Jacinto) De Venecia got 55,761 votes against Lim’s l2,996.

DAGUPAN CITY

Meanwhile, former Immigration Chief Alipio Fernandez Jr. who ran under De Venecia’s ruling Lakas-Christian Muslim Democrats, has reclaimed his position as city mayor.

Fernandez, who ran against Lim’s son Brian, was officially proclaimed Thursday night by the city board of canvassers together with his running mate, mall magnate Belen Fernandez as vice mayor.

The two Fernandezes, not related to each other, both won by a landslide.

Based on the final and official result, Alipio Fernandez got a total of 39,769 while his opponent Lim got 23,004.

 Belen Fernandez, on the other hand, garnered 50,306 while her opponent, Councilor Vladimir Mata, had 11,188.

Ms. Fernandez said she was so overwhelmed by the very wide margin of votes she got and vowed to give her best to serve Dagupeños for the next three years.

Nine of their candidates for councilor also made it, including Farah Marie Decano (41,080), Michael Fernandez (40,191), Dr. Jesus Canto (37,693), Alfie Fernandez (34,447), Danilo Torio (32,300), Joey Tamayo (27,307), Chito Samson  (27,778), Alfredo Quinto (27,324) and Karlos Reyna (27,092).–EVA

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