Cebu City Vice Mayor Raymond Alvin Garcia (left) and Mayor Michael Rama (right) in the 2022 elections campaign. Photo from Mayor Mike Rama/Facebook
CEBU CITY, Philippines — Cebu City Vice Mayor Raymond Alvin Garcia will run again as vice mayor in next year’s midterm elections, alongside Mayor Michael Rama.
Garcia made this pronouncement on Friday, Feb. 16, during a meeting with barangay captains of all 80 barangays of Cebu City at a local hotel, according to the public information office (PIO).
Rama, who was also at the event on Friday, asked the barangay chiefs to have faith in him and to trust him.
The gathering of barangay captains was a training session on registering beneficiaries for the city’s Socialized Housing Program.
The following day, on Feb. 17, Rama confirmed that Garcia would be his running mate in the 2025 elections. He made the announcement during City Hall’s Family Day celebration on Saturday, as part of Cebu City’s 87th Charter Day festivities at the South Road Properties (SRP).
“With pride, privilege and distinction, with no fear of contradiction, still my vice mayor for 2025 [is] Raymond Garcia,” Rama said.
Rama added that he and Garcia come from “a family of servants.”
“We are a family of servants, and I guarantee as your leader (that) I always look back at who has been with us and stood for us, and precisely mao ni ang atong pamilya,” he said.
Moreover, Rama also said there was no need to destroy the “formula” for the 2025 elections, emphasizing that he and Garcia are serving in their first terms.
To maintain the unity of their political circle, the mayor also expressed that he is always ready to step down, recalling the events in the 2019 elections where he gave way and supported the mayoralty bid of the late former City Mayor Edgar Labella.
READ: Rama willing to give way for Labella in mayoralty bid
“Yes, there were periods where there is such an era of uncertainty, but you know pretty well that I can always go down and the record will tell…I would have wanted to run for mayor but for unity as suggested by former Mayor Alvin Garcia, aron dili mabungkag ang among pamilyang pulitikanhon,” he said.
The Rama-Garcia tandem was announced after Lawyer Jose Daluz III expressed his intent to run as mayor in next year’s elections.
Daluz, who is the chairman of the Board of Directors of the Metropolitan Cebu Water District (MCWD), said that he will be running alongside Basak Pardo Barangay Captain Dave Tumulak.
READ: Daluz and Tumulak potential tandem for 2025 midterm election
In an interview with CDN Digital, Tumulak said that he is open to the possibility of accepting the offer of Daluz but he wanted to consult first his constituents before making a “significant decision.”
Besides Daluz, former Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency-Central Visayas (PDEA-7) regional director Yogi Felimon Ruiz had already expressed his intent to run as mayor in the 2025 polls.
Rama, for his part, has opted to keep his silence on his possible opponents in the 2025 midterm elections and he wanted to wait for the filing of the Certificates of Candicacy. /clorenciana