BOPK’s mayoral candidate Nestor Archival Sr. (left) and vice mayoral candidate Tomas Osmeña during their filing on Tuesday, October 8. | CDN Photo/ Pia Piquero
CEBU CITY, Philippines — BOPK candidates Nestor Archival Sr. and Tomas Osmeña claimed Cebu City’s top posts in the 2025 elections with 256,197 and 233,906 votes, respectively.
The Commission on Elections (Comelec) in Cebu City proclaimed the winning candidates at 9 a.m. on Tuesday, May 13, following the completion of the canvassing of all 790 clustered precincts, which began at 7 p.m. the night before.
The city posted an 84.52 percent voter turnout, with 609,789 out of 721,469 registered voters casting their ballots.
READ: Elections in Cebu yield interesting results so far
Archival, an incumbent city councilor, defeated former Mayor Mike Rama of Partido Barug and two other challengers by a wide margin.
He obtained 43.86 percent of total votes, beating incumbent Mayor Raymond Alvin Garcia (PFP), who garnered 176,967 votes (30.30 percent), and Rama, who placed third with 120,124 votes (20.57 percent).
Independent candidate Julieto Co and KBL’s Yogi Ruiz finished with 3,163 and 27,652 votes, respectively.
READ: LIVE UPDATES: Cebu midterm elections 2025
Osmeña, who returned to the political stage after stepping down in 2019, outpaced Barug’s Dondon Hontiveros (190,586 votes) and PFP’s Joey Daluz (147,343 votes) to reclaim the vice mayoralty.
Congressional races
In the first congressional district, Cutie del Mar (NPC) emerged as representative-elect with 105,581 votes, surpassing Franklyn Ong (LDP) with 81,705 votes, BOPK’s Mary Ann de los Santos (60,282), and independent Bert Lerios (2,257).
In the second district, incumbent Rep. Edu Rama (Lakas-CMD) won re-election with 181,055 votes, defeating Bebot Abellanosa (BOPK-aligned independent), who got 131,723 votes.
READ: Senate race: Go leads early count; Aquino, Pangilinan in
City Council winners
First District (Top 8):
Winston Pepito (PFP) – 113,179
Nice Archival (BOPK) – 105,542
Harold Kendrick Go (PFP) – 98,052
Edgardo “Jaypee” Labella (PFP) – 96,972
Joel Garganera (PFP) – 94,194
Alvin Arcilla (BOPK) – 93,156
Jun Alcover (PFP) – 84,570
Bebs Andales (BOPK) – 83,670
Second District (Top 8):
Dave Tumulak (Aksyon) – 127,574
Phillip Zafra (Lakas) – 108,520
Paul Labra (BOPK) – 107,270
Jose Abellanosa (BOPK) – 101,088
Mikel Rama (Barug) – 94,847
Francis Esparis (Lakas) – 93,500
Michelle Abella (BOPK) – 90,061
Harry Eran (Lakas) – 90,048
Consistent lead, peaceful process
Partial tallies released between 8 p.m. and 11 p.m. on election night consistently showed Archival and Osmeña leading, a trend that held until the final count.
Lawyer Ferdinand Gujilde, the city Comelec chair, said the vote canvassing was completed without major issues.
The results signal a major comeback for BOPK, which now controls both executive posts and holds key positions in the city council. This reshapes Cebu City’s political landscape in the lead-up to the 2028 polls.