VM-elect Garcia gets highest votes in Cebu City poll history

VICE Mayor-elect Raymond Alvin Garcia has garnered the most number of votes not only among all candidates in Cebu City who won in the May 9, 2022 elections but also among all candidates who ever ran in the local polls.

This was confirmed by lawyer Edwin Cadungog, chairperson of the Cebu City Board of Canvassers (BOC), after they completed the canvassing of votes from the 964 clustered precincts from the 80 barangays within the city’s north and south districts.

Cadungog considered Garcia’s 283,235 votes the most a candidate has ever received in the history of Cebu City elections.

“This is unprecedented because in the previous elections, votes for mayor and for vice mayor were almost the same. But now it is a lopsided win. More people voted for the vice mayor,” Cadungog said in Cebuano.

Rama received 239,656 votes. Based on the records of the Commission on Elections Cebu City from previous elections, the office had not yet recorded 280,000 or more votes for mayoral and vice mayoral candidates, except for Garcia.

In the 2010 elections, Mayor Michael Rama got 210,520 votes when he was first elected mayor, and 215,425 votes when he was reelected in 2013.

In 2016, Mayor Rama was dethroned by former mayor Tomas Osmeña, who got 266,819 votes. The late Edgardo Labella was elected vice mayor at that time with 252,201 votes.

In 2019, Labella ran against Osmeña and won as mayor. Labella got 265,738 votes.

Reacting to the news, Garcia said: “Wa gyud ko magdahom nga ako maoy adunay labing daghan og boto (I never expected that I would have the most votes) and I was very surprised with the support of the Cebuanos. This shows that Cebuanos have big trust and confidence in our brand of leadership and I will not let their support go to waste. I will do my best in the performance of my duty as their elected vice mayor.”

The BOC chairman said last Monday’s election had a large voter turnout of 83.7 percent as people were eager to choose their president.

“The elections now were different because it’s like the people’s blood boiled. They looked back at the history during the time of Ferdinand Marcos Sr. and Cory Aquino when the contenders were female and male. As we can see, supporters of Cory are now with Vice President Leni Robredo, while some Marcos supporters remained loyal to him,” Cadungog said.

The frontrunner in the presidential race, Ferdinand Marcos “Bongbong” Jr., is the son and namesake of the late dictator Ferdinand Marcos, who ruled the country for 20 years until he was ousted in 1986 during the People Power Revolution that swept Corazon Aquino to power.

City Councilor-elect Donaldo “Dondon” Hontiveros also got the biggest number of votes in the city’s election history with 191,938 from the south district.

Hontiveros was declared overall No. 1 City Councilor in the 2019 polls after getting 160,984 votes.