Dagupan mayor now sole bet after rival withdraws

DAGUPAN CITY—Reelectionist Mayor Belen Fernandez is now the sole candidate for the position in the May 9 elections as her only rival, Celia Lim, has officially withdrawn from the race.

Fernandez’s nephew, Brian Kua, also withdrew his candidacy for vice mayor, leaving reelectionist Vice Mayor Brian Lim, Celia’s son, unopposed.

The Lims belong to Nacionalista Party while Fernandez and Kua are Liberal Party members.

The competition between the Lims and the Fernandezes is not just political. The Lim family owns the Magic Group of Companies, which operates malls here and in the Ilocos region that compete with the CSI malls owned by the Fernandez family.

Celia is the wife of former Dagupan Mayor Benjamin Lim, who suffered a massive stroke a day before the May 9, 2013, elections.

In a statement, Lim said she withdrew from the race so she could take care of her husband who was undergoing treatment. “As a devoted wife, my responsibility is to take care of my husband … This is not the time to compromise his health,” she said.