[] Mabatid's loss affirms the conventional wisdom that in Cebu City it’s foolhardy to run for councilor without a major party carrying the aspirant.
[] Hontiveros, Zafra and Garganera ran as independents in 2019 but were included in, and won under, Barug slate.
[] What cost Kusug and Barug the 2025 elections? What made BOPK, losers in 2019 and 2022, win this time? “A divided Barug, which used to have a solid war machine against BOPK.”
RECORD IN PAST ELECTIONS. Niña Mabatid ran in 2019 under the Barug tandem of Edgardo Labella-Mike Rama, which crushed the Tomas Osmena-Mary Ann de los Santos BOPK team. Mabatid came out #2 top vote-getter and was one of only two Barug candidates -- with Raymond Alvin Garcia -- who survived in Cebu City north district.
Then she ran for congresswoman in 2022 in city north, lost, placing #2 to Marguerite Rachel “Cutie” del Mar (movie-TV actor Richard Yap was #3). Niña suspected then she was junked by leaders of her own party, which apparently must still rankle, even as the issue has remained unresolved.
In the councilor’s races: In 2019 Mabatid got 113,908 votes, next only to north topnotcher Nestor Archival, but this year (2025), she drew only 66,465 votes, landing as No. 11 or three slots away from the Magic Eight. Between her and eighth placer Sisenio “Bebs” Andales (83,670 votes) are Alvin Dizon (No. 9) and Boy Labella (No. 10). If one of the winners gets disqualified, it’s Dizon, not Mabatid who moves in.
PARTY-LESS INDEPENDENT. What was the handicap that Mabatid had and winners in the race for the next City Council didn’t have? She was not in the slate of any major or minor party.
She ran as an independent and without the shelter of a major local party, not even the party of Yogi Ruiz, the fourth group that had a slate, though not complete and, as expected, didn’t win a seat, top to bottom.
As an independent in 2025, Mabatid ran differently from Dondon Hontiveros and Phillip Zafra who in 2022 were listed in their COCs as independent but were carried and won under Barug, even finishing #1 and #4 respectively. Joel Garganera, also listed as independent in the north was also carried by Barug and got the #3 top spot.
Mabatid in the last May election was independent in the real sense.
MABATID’S EDGE, which must have helped forge her decision to run solo, not under any of the front-runners Kusug-Panaghiusa, BOPK and Barug-Bag-Ong Sugbo: namely, public awareness of her name.
The votes she got when she ran for councilor in 2019 and for congresswoman in 2022 showed that voters knew and recognized her. Her presence in social media and in mainstream media, whenever she was involved in this or that controversy, secured public awareness of Mabatid and her brand. And this time, voters in the north didn’t have to make a choice between her and one other candidate; Mabatid only had to be one of eight picks.
WHAT WENT WRONG? Mabatid told me Tuesday, May 27, 2025, she trusted the captains -- 39 of whom, she noted, supported Garcia -- but she did not field people (“my warriors”) to follow through in the “last three crucial days.” “I should’ve mobilized my own leaders in those final days,” she said. The barangay captains and workers on the ground were more attentive to the mayor’s fight, not the councilors’ race. In short, her cause and interest got lost in the scramble for votes for the top position.
As an independent, Niña also said, she should’ve remained neutral and not showed preference for any mayor-wannabe.
BARUG’S AND KUSUG’S LOSS. What made BOPK -- which lost to Barug twice in a row in the 2019 and 2022 elections -- win the 2025 race?
Mabatid said this year’s result would’ve been totally different had Barug not been split into two camps: Garcia’s group and the Rama team. Barug averted a division -- having the Ramas, Garcias, Labellas and Daluzes under the same roof -- in two consecutive elections before 2025 and beat Tomas Osmena in the first and Margot in the second. She had told Raymond, she said, that unity was important.
Known generally for speaking out, Mabatid said “it’s not about being happy that Garcia, Daluz and Rama didn’t win,” but “a healing moment” for her after what they did to me in the 2022 election.” That junking charge again.
RESULTS IN RECENT HISTORY of local elections is that a major party that wins the top two seats at City Hall can hardly make a total sweep in the City Council. The last straight-ticket win was recorded in 2010, when
BOPK won all seats in the City Government and the two congressional seats in the House.
The 2025 finish of six (BOPK)-six (Kusug)-four (Barug) left no slot for any of the independents. Niña Mabatid who had the chance of getting in -- what with public recognition of her name, her own political machinery, and personal logistics -- was among the casualties.
Each race has its own peculiarities but the value of a major political party has come out stronger with the experience of Niña Mabatid in her 2025 quest for a Cebu City councilor’s seat. Flying solo is foolhardy and didn’t work for her or anyone else in the city’s politics.