CEBU CITY, Philippines – It’s “wartime” in the vote-rich province of Cebu as local political powerhouses forge new alliances from the ashes of friendships-turned-rivalries.

For national elective candidates, finding allies in Cebu is a top priority as the total number of registered voters here — Cebu province plus the cities of Mandaue, Cebu, and Lapu-Lapu — are up to 3.4 million.

For local contenders, it’s more than about choosing sides in the clash between the Marcoses and the Dutertes. Many of the political parties who were allies in the last election eventually grew apart over local issues — providing an opportunity to outshine former partners with better promises of “diplomacy” and “legitimacy.”

Rappler lists down some of the races to follow this campaign season in Cebu.

Gubernatorial race: Ex-PFP secretary general versus Ex-PDP-Laban member
Gwen Garcia Pam Baricuatro Cebu
CEBU GUBERNATORIAL RACE. Cebu Governor Gwen Garcia (right) and challenger Pamela Baricuatro (left). Photos from Facebook, LGU Website.

Cebu gubernatorial aspirant Pamela Baricuatro, former secretary general of President Ferdinand Marcos Jr.’s Partido Federal ng Pilipinas (PFP), is now the local bet of the Duterte-led Partido Demokratiko Pilipino–Lakas ng Bayan (PDP-Laban).

Reelectionist Cebu Governor Gwen Garcia is a former PDP-Laban member. She left the party after clashing with former Cebu City mayor and PDP-Laban Vice President for the Visayas Mike Rama in February 2024. 

Rama had filed a complaint against Garcia, urging her suspension for alleged abuse of authority by issuing a cease-and-desist order against civil works for the Cebu Bus Rapid Transit.

Garcia, in one of her campaign sorties in March, said that while she supports Marcos, she continues to respect former president Duterte. She endorsed four senatorial candidates of the Marcos-backed Alyansa para sa Bagong Pilipinas: senators Bong Revilla and Francis Tolentino, former senator Manny Pacquiao, and former interior secretary Benhur Abalos.

Garcia has been in politics since 2004 and has a stacked alliance of provincial incumbents in her One Cebu Party. Baricuatro, a known philanthropist, has the backing of Rama and his Team Liberate Cebu, which consists of local PDP-Laban members and allies, as well as the Garcia clan’s rival, the Duranos of Danao City.

Baricuatro has attended multiple Duterte prayer rallies in the province. She’s one of the heads of the pro-Duterte group Hakbang ng Maisug.

Cebu City: Battle for mayor
Cebu City Mayoral Race
CEBU CITY MAYORAL RACE. Clockwise from left: Cebu City Councilor Nestor Archival, Cebu City Mayor Raymond Alvin Garcia, Dismissed Cebu City mayor Mike Rama, and former Customs commissioner Yogi Filemon Ruiz. Photos from Facebook accounts of the candidates

In the Cebu City mayoral race, two of the candidates — Mike Rama and Raymond Alvin Garcia — won as a tandem in the 2022 elections. Raymond Alvin is Governor Gwen Garcia’s nephew and head of the Kugi Uswag Sugbo (Kusug) party.

Since their 2022 victory, however, several things happened that ultimately dissolved their alliance.

In May 2024, the Office of the Ombudsman ordered Rama’s preventive suspension over unpaid salaries of four city hall employees. In October of that year, Vice Mayor Garcia took over Rama’s seat, and announced the discontinuation Rama’s “Singapore-like” vision for the city. Rama’s lawyers insisted that he was still mayor.

For the 2025 mayoral race, Raymond Alvin partnered with Rama’s foe — former Metropolitan Cebu Water District chairman Jose Daluz III — through the Kusug Panaghiusa Coalition. While Rama was at odds with Daluz in the past over the management of the water utility firm, Daluz was also the campaign manager of Rama’s Partido Barug in previous elections.

Rama has teamed up with Vice Mayor Dondon Hontiveros, a former PBA star.

Cebu City Councilor Nestor Archival is also running for mayor, carrying the banner of Bando Osmeña-Pundok Kauswagan (BOPK). His vice mayoral candidate is former city mayor Tomas Osmeña.

Marcos’ PFP endorsed the mayoral bid of former Customs chief Yogi Filemon Ruiz, who is running under Partido Cebuano.

Independent candidate Julieto Co makes the race a five-way battle.

Mandaue City: Ouanos rekindle rivalry with Cortes
Mandaue Mayoral Race
MANDAUE CITY MAYORAL RACE. Left to right: Cebu Provincial Board Member Thadeo Jovito ‘Jonkie’ Ouano, Mandaue City Mayor Jonas Cortes, and Mandaue City Lone District Representative Emmarie ‘Lolypop’ Ouano-Dizon. Photos from Facebook

Two parties are competing for power in the so-called “Industrial City of the Southern Philippines”: Team Mandaue led by dismissed mayor Jonas Cortes and One Mandaue led by the Ouanos.

Cortes and Cebu Provincial Board Member Thadeo Jovito “Jonkie” Ouano first fought it out for mayor in 2007. The former won and held the mayorship for three consecutive terms, or until 2016.

In 2019, Cortes and Ouano’s sister, Emmarie “Lolypop” Ouano-Dizon, forged an alliance and both were successful in their bids: Cortes for mayor and Emmarie for Cebu 6th District representative. Garcia’s One Cebu and Duterte’s PDP-Laban supported their alliance.

In the 2025 elections, Jonkie Ouano is seeking to wrest city hall from Cortes who is facing a barrage of legal battles stemming from a dismissal order of the Office of the Ombudsman in September 2024, over the operation of a batching plant that lacked valid permits.

Cortes had insinuated that Jonkie was behind his dismissal, and subsequent disqualification from running, which the latter denied. 

In January, the Supreme Court issued a Temporary Restraining Order on the cancellation of Cortes’ candidacy for mayor.

But who’s backing who? The Ouanos are members of the Martin Romualdez-led Lakas-Christian Muslim Democrats (Lakas–CMD) which is part of the Marcos-backed Alyansa para sa Bagong Pilipinas coalition. Cortes, who left PDP-Laban in May 2024, was endorsed by Duterte in February.

Congresswoman Ouano-Dizon is one of nine Cebu lawmakers who signed the impeachment complaint against Vice President Sara Duterte.

Lapu-Lapu city: Chans vs Radaza
LAPU-LAPU CITY MAYORAL RACE
LAPU-LAPU CITY POLITICS. Left to right: Former Lapu-Lapu City Mayor Paz Radaza, Lapu-Lapu City Mayor Junard ‘Ahong’ Chan and wife, Lapu-Lapu Lone District Representative Ma. Cynthia ‘Cindi’ King-Chan. Photos from Facebook

Lapu-Lapu City Mayor Junard Chan and his wife, Lapu-Lapu City Representative Ma. Cynthia King-Chan, are seeking to switch elective posts on May 12.

Former city mayor Paz Radaza (Team Deretso) is seeking to end the reign of the Chans — former close allies — in city hall.

Radaza is a former Lapu-Lapu congresswoman. In 2022, the Sandiganbayan affirmed her graft conviction in relation to the pork barrel scam.

Duterte endorsed Radaza during a gathering on February 22. Mayor Chan left PDP-Laban in May 2024 and is running under the Team Kaabag party with candidates from Lakas-CMD and PFP. 

Congresswoman Chan is among the Cebu lawmakers who signed the impeachment complaint against the Vice President. – Rappler.com