Poll choices: Dy or Dy

Bernard Dy (left) and Victor Dy

CITY OF CAUAYAN—Two members of the powerful Dy clan are pitted against each other for the city’s mayoral post in the May 9 elections, but they say that the fight will not affect their family ties.

Incumbent Mayor Bernard Faustino Dy, 36, has been challenged by his uncle, Victor Dy, 52, former barangay chair of San Fermin, who became a provincial board member when he served as president of the barangay league federation.

Victor, an independent candidate, is the brother of Bernard’s father, the late Benjamin Dy who served the province as governor from 1992 to 2001 and Cauayan City mayor until he died of emphysema in 2013.

He is a brother of reelectionist Gov. Faustino Dy III, who is running against Maria Gracia Cielo Padaca, a former Isabela governor and Commission on Elections commissioner; Antonio Aliangan and Lilia Uy.

During the Desisyon 2016 Cauayan City Local Debate held on April 16 at the F.L. Dy Coliseum here, Bernard, who is running under the Nacionalista Party, said it pained him that he was being challenged by his uncle.

“I have [sought a new term as mayor] to continue the legacy of public service that my late father started,” the mayor said.

But he said the family division would be mended after the elections. “The elections take place in only one day. We will still be and forever be part of one family,” he told the Inquirer.

Victor said he was aware that seeking the mayoral post had hurt his nephew. “I am very sorry for hurting my family. I just wanted to fight for my right to serve Cauayan,” he said.

Elections here used to involve mayoral candidates from the Dy family who ran unopposed, said Rudy Cruz, a Cauayan resident. “This was the first time in recent years the mayoral post had been contested, and the challenge came from the same ruling clan,” he said.

Aside from the three Dys, other members of the clan who are seeking public office are reelectionist Rep. Napoleon Dy; Francis Faustino Dy, Echague mayoral bet and incumbent Isabela barangay federation president; Board Member Faustino Dy IV; San Manuel Mayor Faustino Michael Carlos Dy; and reelectionist Alicia Mayor Ian Paul Dy.

Both Napoleon and Ian Paul are running unopposed.

The clan patriarch, the late Faustino Dy Sr., served as Isabela governor for several terms in the 1970s.