No Bet Yet for Dagupan’s Mayoral Race – Abono Chair

Party will be consulting with leaders in Dagupan City

By Mortz C. Ortigoza

ROSALES – The powerful chairman of the Abono Party List (APL) has as of press time no fair-haired candidate in the mayoral race in Dagupan City.

“Wala pa!” Engineer Rosendo So told this writer if he has already chosen to support either Mayor Belen T. Fernandez or his challenger Vice Mayor Brian Lim for the mayorship of the coastal city in the May 13, 2019 election.

So, Fernandez, and Lim are Filipino Chinese or with Chinese ancestry who played a major role in the politics and business of the huge province of Pangasinan and the independent component city of Dagupan – the richest city in the nine cities’ Region 1.

FAIREST OF ‘EM ALL – (Clockwise top photo) Powerful Abono Party List’s chair and Samahang Industriya ng Agrikultura, Inc. (SINAG) head Rosendo So, Dagupan City’s mayoral bet and present Vice Mayor Brian Lim, and reelective Dagupan City Mayor Belen T. Fernandez.

        The Abono chairman, dubbed as electoral kingmaker in Pangasinan, cited that he and party mates will call the leaders in Dagupan City about their unequivocal support for the farmers' party list so it can help win its nominees in the May polls.

“Kung sino ang susuporta sa amin,” So quipped.

The chairman, who is the head of the Samahang Industriya ng Agrikultura, Inc. (SINAG), said that APL first, second, and third nominees are Congressmen Conrad Estrella and Vini Nola  A. Ortega, and Pangasinan outgoing Board Member Clemente “Nino” Arboleda, Jr.

When asked if the party can get three nominees to be part of the 238 district representatives and 59 congressmen from the party list groups of the 18^th Congress in June 30, 2019, he hopes that it can get the third nominee to represent the party in the August Chamber.

Abono and Inang Mahal Party List are being watched with bated breath by some political observers in Dagupan City how they will ingratiatiate with the 119, 164 voters (Comelec Data November 2018)  in the 31 villages’ city. The Bangus City is the most vote rich local government unit in the 44 towns and 4 cities' Pangasinan.

Inang Mahal has its first nominee former Fourth District Congresswoman Gina de Venecia. Her son Christopher is the incumbent representative of the one city four towns’ district.

The district has 310,711 voters according to the data taken by the writer in the provincial election office in Dagupan City.

  Some pundits opined that So’s Abono, Mayor Fernandez, Vice Mayor Lim, and Inang Mahal are worth watching for. 
They said that the cooperation between one of the party list with one of the mayorship bets will trigger the other party to collaborate with the other mayoral candidate.

APL is supporting the congressional run of Dagupan City former vice mayor Alvin Fernandez to represent the central Pangasinan’s district in the national lawmaking body in Manila.