By Gonzalo Duque

 

I had a brief conversation with Orly Navarro, manager of radio station DWIZ and a close friend of Brian Lim and family about politics in Dagupan.

I asked him why he interviewed Mayor Belen Fernandez three times in his radio program “ Orly You” and what is the plan of Celia Lim and her children Brian and Irene.

Orly said the Lims will not take the 2025 local elections seriously since their option lies with their main patron, Vice President Sara who is already out of the graces of the administration of PBBM.

However, he said a compromise is a possibility, like what happened in the past when Belen took the mayoralty and the vice mayoralty post went to Brian Lim.

This could be a practical solution. Possible, go, maganda nga yan!

But will Vice Mayor Bryan Kua be willing to slide down to being a councilor? I doubt that.

But my “guesstimate” is, going by the body language and actions of the majority bloc, they will not go in that direction. Besides, they are still delaying the passage of the 2024 Supplemental Budget 2 of the city.

Also, itong mga pangyayaring ito ay magaganap dahil mahirap ponduhan ang election ng 2025 kung walang pagkukunan ng atik .

Recall that during the barangay election, biglang nag dry-up ang funding ni Brian Lim kaya all of his candidates, except one or two ay nalaspag. Ngayon, all barangay captains are solidly behind Belen’s UnliSerbisyo.

Then, take note that the 2025 election of local officials precedes the 2028 national election which will be a winner-take-all election.

Presidential candidates will be forced to finance their local counterparts in the provincial city/municipal and barangay levels who will campaign for them. So, given the predicament of the VP Sara and Lim camp, it will be a forgone conclusion for Mayor Belen and her followers.

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I think it will be House Speaker Martin Romualdez and Senate President Chiz Escudero who will run for President in 2028. 

Both have the funds to wage a national campaign for the presidency. Other likely candidates like Raffy Tulfo may slide down to VP.

A Romualdez-Tulfo tandem for president and Vice President is likely in 2028. I don’t know who will be VP of Escudero. It is still a long shot.

As to VP Sara Duterte, I think she missed the chance to be President when she allowed herself to be VP of Marcos. Her last chance to be President was last election when Digong was still president who had control of the whole government… But today, Sara is an outsider looking in.

In the case of Atty. Leni Roberto, mas gusto niyang maging mayor ng Naga City.

But I am certain that the 2025 election will favor the administration candidate because the chairman of Comelec is George Garcia, lawyer of Marcos.

My classmate Saidemen Pangarungan was not confirmed by Congress because he was close to Digong who appointed him to the post. So, George Garcia got the chairmanship.

Sabi nila bagong machines na raw ang gagamitin na galing sa Korea. Parekoy, baka pareho lang yan sa Smartmatic. Mas madali raw mandaya ngayon sa election gamit ang mga machines. 

Even if past elections were held manually, its big advantage was the result of the elections can be questioned anytime from the barangay, city/municipal and provincial levels and then to the Comelec.

Dahil sa bilis ng operation ng voting machines, it practically demolishes the process of hearing of election protests. What say you?

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Will the ongoing elevation of the roads in Dagupan become an election issue in 2025?

The camp of former Mayor Brian Lim thinks it will be and is already wishing for flood to hit in city so Mayor Belen it can be blamed for it.

If this is the only issue they can throw against Mayor Belen, panis na yan.

The bigger campaign issue is the endless objection of the seven majority councilors to pass a simple resolution authorizing Belen to sign a Memorandum of Agreement with DOH for the establishment of a P150-million Mother and Child Hospital. And their only reason is simply because it believes the donated facility will be advantageous to the Fernandez family.

Methinks that is not valid enough to go against the public welfare purpose of the project.

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