SAN CARLOS CITY, Pangasinan – The first peace covenant to be mediated by the Philippine National Police (PNP) in Pangasinan will hopefully be among prospective local candidates here.

Mayor Julian Resuello, in a talk during the ‘Talakayan sa Isyung Pulis’ (TSIP) at the city hall here recently, said he is amenable to sign a peace pact with other candidates here, only to ease a possible election tension.

Resuello was challenged to sign a peace pact with the other prospective candidates by Police Regional Director Chief Superintendent Leopoldo Bataoil as San Carlos was listed by both the PNP and the Commission on Elections as among three areas of immediate concern (AIC) in the province.

“Let’s take it from the statement of the mayor that they will support the peace and are willing to sign a covenant with other prospective candidates just to ensure that there would be  peace during the election,” Bataoil said.

Now on his third and last term of office, Resuello will run for vice mayor in the coming election with his son, incumbent Vice Mayor Julier Resuello, gunning for the mayorship.

The Resuellos were the first father and son tandem to have ever succeeded in winning an election in Pangasinan as runningmates in 2004.

Vice Mayor Julier Resuello is set to be challenged by come-backing former Mayor Douglas Soriano after his nine years of absence.

On the other hand, Soriano’s younger brother, Atty. Gallant Soriano, is also eyeing to run for congressman in the third district of Pangasinan.

At the same time, the Resuellos do not sit well with their citymate incumbent third district congressman Generoso Tulagan who is fielding his son Generoso Tulagan, Jr. to take his place.

The elder Resuello’s openness to sign a peace pact with their prospective opponents is expected to ease the tension in the city that was already fanned by the inclusion of San Carlos as among the three areas of immediate concern (AICs) by the Commission on Elections and the police.

The two others are Tayug and Natividad, both in the eastern part of the province.

The AICs were chosen based on the parameters of the national PNP headquarters at Camp Crame, on account of previous incidents that happened in the last election.

Resuello expressed optimism that the peace pact to be signed by all prospective candidates will ensure that the peace will not go out of bounds in San Carlos City during the election.

He said they will do everything to make the election peaceful and orderly as they hate to see their city placed under Comelec control as what happened in the last election.

Despite being placed under Comelec control and listed as one of the AICs in that election, no violence ever took place if there was intense political rivalries among the candidates.

Believing that a similar peaceful atmosphere is expected in this election, Resuello expressed fear that the placing of San Carlos under Comelec control will send a wrong signal to investors eyeing to come to the city.

“We’ve been inviting investors to our city and if they read that it would be placed under Comelec control, they might not come to us anymore,” he said. (PNA)