WHY RANKING MATTERS AMONG COUNCILORS. The highest-ranking councilor becomes acting vice mayor when the vice mayor is on leave or the latter serves as acting mayor.
Councilor Winston Pepito was designated acting VM from October 9 to November 22, 2025, when Tomas Osmena went abroad for medical treatment.
If the vice mayor resigns – if VM Tomas would make good his threat to quit, as has been widely buzzed – Pepito automatically assumes as vice mayor.
Ranking among councilors in cities and towns – and board members, in provinces -- is important for the rule on succession in local governments.
TUMULAK GOT MORE VOTES BUT. Basing on the results of the immediately preceding election, i.e., in 2025, one can see that Councilor Dave Tumulak in Cebu City South District garnered more votes than Councilor Pepito in the Cebu City North.
By more than 14,000 votes or, to be precise, 14,395.
RAW VOTES NOT THE BASIS; PROPORTIONAL PERCENTAGE IS. Ranking of councilors is not based on the absolute number of voters alone when the local government unit has two or more councilor districts.
The Comelec formula, based on tradition and practice and apparently upheld by the Supreme Court, is the proportion (percentage) of votes a councilor received relative to the total registered voters in a specific district. The councilor with the highest proportional percentage of voters is deemed the "first-ranking councilor.”
Comelec’s formula for the ranking: “Ranking percentage equals total number of votes over total number of registered voters.”
Cebu City Comelec registered a total of 721,469 voters in the 2025 elections, but separate figures for the north and south districts were not immediately available for this report.
Pepito, No. 1 vote-getter in the north district, obviously obtained a higher percentage than Tumulak, No. 1 vote-getter in the south district.
REASON FOR RULE IS FAIRNESS. In cities divided into more than one district, councilors are elected not at large but by district.
Different districts do not have the same number of voters. Comparing “absolute vote totals,” according to the Comelec, would not be fair.
TUMULAK AGREES THAT IT’S THE RULE. Councilor Tumulak conceded on the existence of the proportional percentage formula and its application to the situation in Cebu City.
Tumulak told me Saturday (May 2, 2026) that, yes, he got more votes in the south than Councilor Pepito did in the north, but Pepito had a higher percentage, in proportion to the number of voters that each district had. (Dave didn’t say the difference in percentage.)