DAGUPAN CITY – Tension has gripped the city and various groups against poll violence here and elsewhere in the province and prompted residents to appeal to the Commission on Elections (Comelec) Tuesday to place Dagupan City under its control.

The call for Comelec control was aired following the reported mauling incident of several campaign supporters of former mayor Benjamin Lim by armed bodyguards of Mayor Alipio Fernandez Jr.’s son, Alvin, who allegedly barged into a barangay rally staged by Lim’s camp.

Lim’s son, Brian, a candidate for city councilor, and former councilor Nick Aquino, along with five other supporters, were reportedly pistol-whipped, kicked and forced to lie face down on the pavement. They suffered contusions in different parts of the body, a medical test by doctors of the Regional Medical Center here showed.

According to witnesses, the young Fernandez, who helps his father run City Hall as administrator, even dared Lim’s group to a firefight. “Patayan na,” the young Fernandez was quoted by the witnesses as shouting.

The commotion sent the crowd in the rally to panic when one of the armed men in black bonnet, with his Armalite rifle poked on the back of Lim, shouted, “papatayin kita, eh.”

The incident happened at 4 p.m. the other day, a stone’s throw from a police detachment in Barangay Bolosan here where a SWAT (Special Weapons and Tactics) team of the Dagupan City police force was posted.

“They (members of the SWAT team) just watched us being manhandled,” Lim later complained at the police headquarters where he had the incident recorded.

In urging the poll body to act fast on their petition for Comelec control, the anti-violence groups warned of possible fierce clashes between the two rival camps if no immediate intervention is made by authorities.

“We demand for a quick solution. We want the elections to be peaceful,” Benjamin Lim who is on a political comeback to retake the mayorship, said in an interview by a local radio station.