Garcia on Daluz tandem: "Match made in heaven"

CEBU, Philippines — On the final day of filing, Cebu City acting Mayor Raymond Alvin Garcia filed his candidacy for the 2025 mayoral elections, with lawyer Jose Daluz III as his running mate under the Partido KUSUG-Panaghiusa banner.

This moved confirms Garcia’s bid for the mayoral seat in next year's elections, following his previous reluctance to confirm his intentions. Garcia, Daluz, and their entire slate submitted their Certificates of Candidacies together.

For the South District councilor race, their slate includes James Anthony Cuenco, Junjun Osmeña, and Rey Gealon. Pie Abella, Jeson Guardo, Eugene Labella, and incumbent Barangay Basak Pardo Captain Dave Tumulak.

For the North District councilors, incumbent Councilors Joel Garganera, Pastor “Jun” Alcover, and Jaypee Labella also filed their COC. Winston Pepito, Glena Bontuyan, Rj Osmeña, Harold Go, and Ailien Guardo also filed their COCs.

Rachel "Cutie" del Mar is the party's candidate for North District representative while they will be adopting incumbent Congressman Edu Rama for the South District.

In an interview, Garcia said that his tandem with Daluz, former Chairman of the Metro Cebu Water District (MCWD) is a "match made in heaven."

When asked what motivated him to aim for the highest seat in Cebu City, Garcia said there are "a lot of things" that should be done in the city that he had mapped out when he assumed as acting mayor last May 10, 2024.

He enumerated the feats of opening the Guba Community Hospital, saving at least P230 million from the supposed expenses for the hosting of the Palarong Pambansa 2024, and ironing out the relationship with Cebu Provincial Capitol, Cebu Port Authority (CPA), and Metro Cebu Water District (MCWD).

Garcia also expressed plans for mass transportation citing the vision to invite more investors to come with trains, subways, and options of using cable cars to go up to the mountain barangays to decongest the traffic in the city.

For his part, Daluz said that there has been a call for him to run as Mayor as he plans to go back to the political scene but decided for a coalition with Garcia. — (FREEMAN)