THE team of former Immigration Commissioner Alipio Fernandez Jr. under the Lakas-Christian Muslim Democrats clobbered the opposing team in the last election in Dagupan City, giving only one seat to the latter in the city council.

Called United Dagupan, the team of former Immigration Commissioner Fernandez and his running mate, Belen Fernandez, a business magnate, swamped the New-Po team of 28- year old Brian Lim, son of Mayor Benjamin Lim, in all 31 barangays of the city.

Only the youthful Karlos Liberato Reyna III of the New-Po survived the onslaught of the United Dagupan team. He made it to the 10th place in the Magic 10 winning circle in the city council of Dagupan at the expense of reelectionist Alex de Venecia, nephew of House Speaker Jose de Venecia Jr.

De Venecia, a first-termer, lost despite his inclusion in the list of candidates in Dagupan supported by the influential Iglesia Ni Cristo.

Based on the result released by the City Board of Canvassers headed by City Elections Officer Vanessa Micu-Roncal, Alipio Fernandez got a total of 39,769 votes against the younger Lim’s 23,004 votes.

On the other hand, Belen Fernandez garnered 50,306 votes while her opponent Vladimir Mata had 11,188 votes.

The city election office attested that Belen Fernandez’ lead over her opponent was the largest voting margin ever registered by the winner against the loser in any elections in Dagupan ever since.