“Killing” Belen by disinformation

By Gonzalo Duque

CONGRATULATIONS to all the winners in the just concluded elections. Ditto to the losers, especially to those who put up a good fight and gave the winners some sleepless nights and, euphemistically, a run for their money till they were nosed out in the very end. 

To the winners, you were tasked by our people to lead them for three years. Don’t fail them. Serve them well. To the losers, better luck next time. This is not the end of the world for you.

After the elections, forget all your differences and recriminations that may have happened among you and among your supporters during the election. Let us all unite for our beloved towns, cities and province of Pangasinan and of course, our people.

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We are sad that Mayor Belen Fernandez lost the election in Dagupan City. In our book, she put up a good fight to the very end despite the backing of her challenger, Vice Mayor Brian Lim, by the block-voting Iglesia ni Cristo.

She was credited with 47,912 votes against the 49,156 votes garnered by eventual winner Brian Lim, or a difference of just 1,200 plus. It was too close to call as the 2,230 edge of Brian was a very slim margin by any standard. 

Come to think of it, Belen almost overcame the 5,000 INC votes that went to Brian. But methinks Belen did not lose but actually came out the big winner when all her party mates under the UnliSerbisyo team, except Councilor Emong Vallejos, won.

The commanding lead of Belen’s running mate Bryan Kua of more than 11,000 votes over Lim’s partner Alfie Fernandez, can in fact be partly credited to Belen who campaigned for her entire team.

In fact, in the race for councilor, only three from Lim’s side won while seven from Belen’s team emerged as winners. It is Belen’s forces that will be the majority in the city council for the next three years with Brian’s forces in the minority. 

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Imagine, a day before we wrote this column, we heard a radio station anchorman announced that he heard an unconfirmed report that Belen suffered a stroke and was rushed to the Villaflor Hospital. (Di ba pag alam mong “unconfirmed” you don’t report it?)

Of course, that was a fake news! Belen is hale and healthy and intends to continue to discharge her duty till her mandate ends on June 30 this year. And I found out that it was actually a repeat of the fake news circulated on social media two days before the election by malicious bashers. It was resorted to discourage supporters of Belen to shift their support to Brian.

During the campaign and long before the hustings began, volumes were said of Belen by the bashers who we know all as coming from the Brian’s camp. In this latest bashing, Belen was inspecting the about-to-be completed construction of a tennis court along with City Engineer Rosario. Hearing this disinformation, she called Aksyon Radio Dagupan to personally assure her constituents she is alive and well and just finishing his last official acts as city mayor.

Why do the bashers continue to “kill” Belen with fake news? We guess, it could be that the camp of Mayor-elect Brian Lim is too in a hurry to take over the city. Or it could be that they regard Belen as a more dangerous foe when she is already a private citizen. I hope we’re wrong.           

Allow me to paraphrase the wherefores of killings of great men like John F. Kennedy, Abraham Lincoln and yes, General George Patton by author Bill O’Reilly. It’s a food for thought for the bashers:

In sum, he said you could be making Belen great woman and a great leader if you don’t stop spreading rumor about her having suffered a stroke and having been rushed to the hospital, knowing it’s completely false.  So, better be careful in  “killing” Belen because instead of stressing her, you are making her look great because of her solid achievements for the city and people.

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