DAGUPAN CITY – At
least 30 candidates in Pangasinan signed a peace covenant on Monday afternoon
at the Metropolitan Cathedral of the St. John the Evangelist but the two
gubernatorial bets were a no-show.
Re-electionist Gov.
Amado Espino Jr. and his lone rival, Alaminos City Mayor Hernani Braganza,
failed to attend the signing supposedly due to prior commitments.
Re-electionist sixth
district board member Alfonso Bince said the absence of Espino and Braganza in
the peace covenant signing lessened its impact.
He said he and the
others who signed the covenant also had previous commitments yet they chose to
be present in the event.
Among those in the
peace covenant signing were re-electionist Vice Gov. Jose Ferdinand Calimlim,
Espino’s running mate, and his opponent, retired Philippine National Police
chief Arturo Lomibao, Braganza’s vice gubernatorial bet; re-electionist second
district Rep. LeopoldoBataoil; third district Rep. Ma. Rachel Arenas who was
substituted by her mother Rosemarie in the May polls; and re-electionistDagupan
City Mayor Benjamin Lim.
Candidates in the rest
of the 44 towns and three cities of Pangasinan were no longer invited, as they
had their own peace covenant signing in their respective
localities.
Calimlim said he
welcomes this symbolic effort to ensure clean and peaceful midterm elections.
He said Espino was
attending a PhilHealth card distribution in the sixth district of Pangasinan
held simultaneously with the covenant signing.
Lingayen-Dagupan
Archbishop Socrates Villegas, who presided over the signing, advised the
candidates to keep in their heart and put into practice what they signed.
He said peace comes
from God through men and women “who know how to love, who know how to pray, who
know how be humble, who know how to repent and who know how to love like
Jesus.”
“When men and women allow themselves to become
instruments of peace, even the rivers, the mountains, even the forests and the
hills, air and the soil will sing a song of peace,” he said.
He urged people that
“on election day... let us make sure that the votes are cast, let us make sure
that the votes are counted, let us make sure that the votes are canvassed and
the right man, the right woman is proclaimed because that is the will of God
for us.”
For his part, lawyer
Marino Salas, provincial election supervisor, urged police officers and other
public servants like him “to leave politics to politicians.”
Chief Supt. Ricardo
Marquez, regional police director, said he is hopeful the peace pact signing
will usher in understanding and a culture of peace and the rule of law.
Pangasinan is one of
the 15 provinces identified by the Department of the Interior and Local
Government as priority areas of concern due to perceived intense political
rivalries. -- EV
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