Voices from the Regions: Covering the Cebu campaigns

CEBU, Philippines – Cebu province, including the independent cities of Cebu, Mandaue and Lapu-Lapu, is the most vote-rich province in the Philippines with over 3.2 million voters.

But a large part of how the national candidates are able to get these votes depend on how well they are able to form alliances with the very dynamic local political dynasties and parties. 

So far, the Garcia dynasty’s One Cebu party has sealed an alliance with the “UniTeam” tandem of Ferdinand Marcos Jr. and Sara Duterte for president and vice president. Mayor Mike Rama and his Cebu City party “Partido Barug” have also allied with UniTeam.

Meanwhile, Vice President Leni Robredo’s camp has the support of incumbent Vice Governor Hilario “Junjun” Davide III and the Osmeña family. She has also gotten the support of smaller town mayors of San Remigio and Dumanjug. (READ: Mayor of Garcia dynasty’s hometown in Cebu supports Robredo)

However, much of her campaign is reliant on grassroots volunteers to push her candidacy in Cebu and the rest of the country.

To make sense of the Cebuano vote three days before the historic May 9 national election, Rappler multimedia reporter and Visayas bureau coordinator Ryan Macasero speaks with multimedia journalist Delta Letigio of CDN Digital, and Rappler correspondent John Sitchon.

Catch the episode live on Rappler at 7 pm on Friday, May 6. – Rappler.com

Watch previous Voices from the Regions episodes here:

• Voices from the Regions: People Power beyond Manila
• Voices from the Regions: Bacolod’s Luke Espiritu and his bid for the Senate
• Voices from the Regions: Robredo’s pink campaign in Northern Mindanao
• Voices from the Regions: Margot Osmeña and her bid for Cebu City mayor
• Voices from the Regions: ‘Kakampinks’ in Marcos country