Comelec sees peaceful polls in Dagupan City

Upgrade to High-Speed Internet for only ₱1499/month!

Enjoy up to 100 Mbps fiber broadband, perfect for browsing, streaming, and gaming.

Visit Suniway.ph to learn

DAGUPAN CITY — Despite the highly contested mayoral race in this city, the Commission on Elections (Comelec) is confident that the election here will not lead to a violent confrontation ahead of the May 12 poll.

The city has been classified under the yellow category, which signifies a heightened political rivalry, but city election officer Michael Franks emphasized that this classification is not due to a history of election-related violence.

"There are no private armed groups here, and this city has no history of election-related violence," Sarmiento said in a recent interview.

An area also falls under the yellow category if election-related incidents have occurred in the area during the last two elections.

The mayoral race in this city involves reelectionist Mayor Belen Fernandez and incumbent Councilor Celia Lim. Both candidates operate supermarket chains in northern Luzon.

Fernandez's running mate is reelectionist Vice Mayor Bryan Kua, while Lim has enlisted her son, former mayor Brian Lim, as her vice mayoral candidate.

According to Sarmiento, this city has 144,481 registered voters, the largest in the Ilocos Region.

The Pangasinan Police Office had earlier said that this city is one of two cities, along with six towns in Pangasinan, currently classified under the yellow category.

The other areas include Urdaneta City and the towns of Aguilar, Binmaley, Malasiqui, Mangaldan, San Quintin and Sual.

The Comelec has indicated that these areas may either be elevated to the "orange" or "red" categories (areas with serious armed threats) or downgraded to the "green" category (areas with no security concerns).

In Urdaneta City, the mayoral race features reelectionist Julio Parayno III and Maan Tuazon Guico, wife of Gov. Ramon Guico III.

Parayno is running with reelectionist Vice Mayor Jimmy Parayno, while Guico has board member Chinky Perez-Tababa as her vice mayoral candidate.

In January, Malacañang imposed a 12-month suspension on the Paraynos after they were found administratively liable for grave misconduct and abuse of authority.

However, the Paraynos defied the order until March 31, when the Department of the Interior and Local Government installed Councilors Rio Virgilio Esteves and Blesildo Sumera as acting mayor and vice mayor, respectively, during a flag-raising ceremony.

In Sual, the mayoral race is between reelectionist Mayor Liseldo Calugay and former Alaminos city councilor Arthur Celeste Jr., son of reelectionist Pangasinan 1st District Rep. Arthur Celeste.

Calugay, who has been romantically linked to dismissed Bamban, Tarlac mayor Alice Guo, is seeking a second term.

Celeste relocated from Alaminos City to Sual in April last year after resigning as a city councilor.

Sual, home to a 1,200-megawatt coal-fired power plant, was ranked as the 15th richest town in the country in 2023, according to a Commission on Audit report.

Aguilar town was placed under the yellow category following the shooting and killing of a barangay captain candidate during the Barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan Elections in 2023.

Pangasinan, with 2,156,306 voters, is the largest electorate in the Ilocos Region. It has 14,405 precincts spread across 1,364 villages in the province.