TIMELINE: Major political developments in the Visayas – a year before elections

Graphic design by Christian Dave Cuizon

CEBU CITY, Philippines — The May 2025 Midterm Elections is still a year away but major political shifts are already taking place not only here in Cebu but also in other parts of the country.

In Cebu alone, huge political changes occurred within a span of several weeks only — from the the suspension of Cebu City Mayor Michael Rama to Cebu Gov. Gwendolyn Garcia’s resignation from Partido Demokratiko Filipino – Lakas Ng Bayan (PDP-Laban).

To give readers an overview or summary of the latest political developments, CDN Digital has come up with this timeline.

Why is Midterm Elections important?

Shifting of alliances, and a flood of administrative and criminal cases against current officials are not new developments in politics — especially when the election season is nearing.

It can be recalled that sometime in 2017, just a year before the May 2019 Midterm Elections, nearly all mayors, vice mayors and councilors in Cebu jumped ship to PDP-Laban — then the ruling party in the nation — from the Liberal Party, the party led by the late President Benigno Aquino III.

READ: CEBU IS NOW PDP-LABAN COUNTRY

The Presidential and Midterm polls are just two of the major elections in the country.

But one of the striking differences between the two is that midterm elections, according to the Armed Conflict Location & Event Data Project (ACLED), served primarily as a means of consolidating power.

“Elections play a powerful role in increasing the bargaining power of the ruling party and the dictator (leader)… In practice, it is a loyalty test,” wrote Roudabeh Kishi and Clionadh Raleigh for ACLED.

ACLED is a non-government organization that specializes in data collection, analysis, and crisis mapping about political violence and protests worldwide.

Next year’s polls will take place on May 12, 2025. The Commission on Elections (Comelec) has also released a list of schedules