SEVEN takeaways about the next Cebu City Council from the May 9 election results:
[1] BARUG RETAINS DOMINANCE. Partido Barug keeps its control of Cebu City's Sangguniang Panlungsod with 12 of its candidates obtaining councilor seats and its rival BOPK (Bando Osmeña Pundok Kauswagan) winning only four in last May's elections.
BOPK won three of eight seats in the north and one of eight in the south. Add the vice mayor/presiding officer to Barug and the youth sector's representative to BOPK, it will be a total of 13 against five, in Barug's favor.
That will be a thicker, more solid edge of Barug in the next, the 16th Sanggunian than in past City Councils when good fortune and defection helped the ruling party. In 2019, for example, disqualification kicked out BOPK winners Arvin Arcilla and Sisenio Andales and moved Jerry Guardo and Joel Garganera to the circle of eight. Garganera is Barug while Guardo, with Dave Tumulak, defected from BOPK.
BOPK-aligned Jessica Resch, Sangguniang Kabataan rep, keeps her ex-officio seat until the barangay and youth elections, on December 5 unless they're postponed again. Another BOPK ally and ex-officio councilor, Franklyn Ong of the Association of Barangay Councils, ran for vice mayor and lost to Councilor Raymond Alvin Garcia.
Garcia, who trounced Ong to win the vice mayor's seat, will move from majority floor leader to presiding officer. The presiding officer is counted as member to determine the majority and a quorum but cannot vote except in case of a tie.
Vice Mayor Dondon Hontiveros, reelected as councilor, topped again on votes, as he did in 2019. Even bigger, at 178,953 votes, compared to 124,466 three years ago. He keeps the title of successor in case of the absence of the mayor and vice mayor.
[2] INCUMBENTS, OLD-TIMERS enjoy the advantage of public awareness, which influences the voter's decision to vote. Voters usually prefer councilors they know or with names familiar to them. And it appears to have paid off in the last elections, of course along with other factors in the campaign.
Nine of the winners are incumbent councilors: Nestor Archival and Joy Young of BOPK Jerry Guardo and Joel Garganera in the north. And BOPK's Dondon Hontiveros, Joy Pesquera, Philip Zafra, Junjun Osmeña and James Anthony Cuenco of Barug in the south. All are veterans, multiple termers who went through many local races.
Other winners are returnees, former councilors who were "there and done that": The likes of BOPK Mary Ann de los Santos who aside from her councilor stints battled in elections for mayor, congresswoman and vice mayor. Or Pastor Alcover Jr., former councilor and party-list congressman, who finished #12 in the 2019 elections. Or Wenceslao Noel, former councilor who almost made it in 2019; from #11, he moved to #9 with the Arcilla-Andales disqualification.
[3] NEWBIES WHO SURVIVED. Of the four newcomers who survived, two relied on their respective fathers' political reputation and, presumably, network of supporters: Jaypee Labella, son of the late mayor Edgardo Labella, who landed #4 in the north district, and Jose Abellanosa, son of outgoing congressman Bebot Abellanosa, #2 in the south.
The other two newbies #7 and #8 in the south winners list didn't have any political name to hitch their stars on: Rey Gealon is a lawyer who was city attorney under the Labella administration. Francisco Esparis, Quiot barangay captain and radio drama writer and performer, was #12 in the 2019 election and finally made it to the tail-end this year.
[4] SCIONS WHO DIDN'T MAKE IT. Notable wannabe-councilor who didn't make it was Bea Villegas-Osmeña, wife of Miguel, Tomas and Margot Osmeña's son. Apparently, she was among the victims of Barug's near-total sweep.
The name Osmeña has not saved Bea. Unlike Jose Abellanosa -- son of Congressman Bebot, who not only survived the Barug blitz but finished #2 -- Bea landed #12, four spots away from the winning column. (Jose Abellanosa's sibling B.G, who gunned for the higher position of congressman, also under BOPK and in the same district, lost to veteran councilor Edu Rama.)
Bea was only one rung above Ramonito Alcoseba, son and substitute of the late councilor Raul "Yayoy" Alcoseba. Yayoy died April 17, less than a month before the elections.
[5] 'MORE VALUABLE COUNCILORS.' If some independent body would list the more valuable councilors who stood out in their legislative work during the early pandemic years of 2020 and 2021, the most likely names in the roster would include (not in a particular order because of different roles and thrusts):
* Then vice mayor Michael Rama who, (a) as presiding officer, led the City Council into becoming "a constructive fiscalizer" that served notice it would watch over the spending of billions of pesos allotted to fight Covid-19; and (b) as member, at times went down from the rostrum to cite defects of big-ticket contracts, such as the Carbon Market project. Apparently, then VM Mike's differences with his mayor influenced his moves but it unified a usually divided legislature in times of emergency.
* Councilor Raymond Alvin Garcia, as majority floor leader, was responsible for pushing ordinances, particularly on spending for the multiple crises during the period. He used skill and tack to speed up passage without being seen as violating procedures and prudence. As the next vice mayor -- having collected "the most number of votes among all 2022 candidates and all candidates who ever ran in Cebu City" -- Garcia will move up to presiding officer, which demands a more impartial and less partisan role.
* Nestor Archival, who as minority floor leader, led the task of putting contracts and other transactions involving money or property under scrutiny, by asking that papers be produced and procedures followed. The results are sometimes just symbolic: his motions pass but requests for information aren't met or are just ignored. Other councilors from BOPK who lent support to Archival were Eugenio Gabuya Jr., Lea Japson, Alvin Dizon, Franklyn Ong and Joy Young.
* Councilor Dizon stood out for his consistent thrust of helping and defending marginal groups and calling for prudent spending amid the fast flow of public funds during Covid and typhoons Odette and Agaton. His was often a sober voice for good governance in the rush of emergency-induced legislation. A pity that Dizon, who placed #12 in the last election, won't be in the 16th Sanggunian. Also not staying is Councilor Japzon whose bits of advice, culled from long experience, helped steer legislative flow. She finished #10, next to #9 Alvin Arcilla.
Councilor Gabuya, term-limited, will rest. Councilor Ong lost in his bid for vice mayor and will go, along with Councilor Niña Mabatid, who lost the race for north congresswoman. Councilor Young won, placing #6, and will remain.
* Councilors Jerry Guardo and Joel Garganera proved useful not only in Sanggunian sessions but also on administrative work crucial especially during times of crisis. Guardo was City Council liaison with the mayor's office on public works and Garganera, as head of the city's Emergency Operations Center, on the response to the pandemic. Their work, which involved extensive public exposure, must partly explain their #2 and #3 spots in the north's roster of winners.
[6] LESSONS FROM THE CRISES. The 15th Sanggunian, having passed the worst crises and most interesting problems of legislation in the past decades, may pass on to the next City Council the lessons learned.
It often failed to get the facts it needed to decide intelligently on proposed measures. It had to rely solely on the mayor to execute projects and enforce decisions. The councilors, nine of whom would still be around, must have seen how those failures can be averted or reduced.
[7] IRRITANTS IN RELATIONS between the City Council and the executive department -- despite the fact that Barug is the ruling party -- cannot be avoided. Yet they can be reduced and quickly resolved, depending on the personal and working ties between Mike Rama and his vice mayor. Given his experience with the late mayor Labella, Mayor Rama should be more adept at coping with them.