ASPIRANTS in Dagupan City vying for the local positions of mayor, vice mayor and councilor, signed a peace covenant early Friday morning, February 7, at the Dagupan City Plaza during a ceremony presided by City Elections Officer Michael Franks Sarmiento.

A total of 27 candidates signed the covenant for peaceful, honest and credible May 2025 elections, including 12 from the Partido Federal ng Pilipinas led by Mayor Belen Fernandez, 12 from the Nacionalista Party led by Celia Lim, and three independent contenders for councilor.

The event started with a mass at the Saint John the Evangelist Cathedral, followed by a unity walk that culminated at the Dagupan City Plaza, where an Inter-Faith Rally and the signing of peace covenant was held.

All the candidates wore white shirts, except former Councilor Luis Samson Jr, who wore a crimson red shirt, and one independent candidate for councilor who wore a striped shirt.

In his speech, Sarmiento noted that Dagupan City was classified from green to the more critical yellow category mainly due to the current environment of intense political rivalry.

“Of course, we do not want Dagupan to be elevated to the higher orange and red categories,” he said as he called on candidates to focus on their advocacies, platform, and vision and not the weakness and faults of the other aspirants when they begin their campaign on March 28.

At the same time, Sarmiento called on candidates who installed posters containing their respective names and photographs in different parts of Dagupan to start removing all these, saying they are duty-bound by law to do so before the start of the campaign period on March 28.

At the covenant signing were Department of the Interior and Local Goverenment City Operations Officer Royoleta Rosario;  Education Supervisor Maria  Linda Ventenilla, Edith Sta. Maria, chair of the Parish Pastoral Council for Responsible Voting (PPCRV) in Dagupan; Dagupan City Police Chief P/Lt. Colonel Brendon Palisoc; Fire Marshal Chief Inspector Michael Escano; heads of the Philippine Coast Guard and the Bureau of Jail Management and Penalogy, religious leaders from different sects and Muslim imams.

The PPCRV chair expressed optimism that votes will have dignity and meaning in this midterm elections. (Leonardo Micua)

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