Jea Nicole Jacot

Bando-Osmeña Pundok Kauswagan (BOPK) front runner and incumbent councilor Nestor Archival was officially declared the winner of Cebu City’s mayoral elections on Tuesday morning, May 13.

Photo Courtesy of SunStar Cebu.

Based on the partial and unofficial results as of 10:22 p.m., the latest tally showed Archival with 249,428 votes, while his rival, Raymond Alvin Garcia of the Partido Federal ng Pilipinas (PFP), garnered 170,100 votes.

On the evening of May 12, Archival shared a short message with his supporters on his Facebook page following the 2025 midterm local elections results.

“Tomorrow is a new beginning for Cebu City, one filled with hope. From the bottom of my heart, daghang salamat sa inyong pagsalig. Good night, mga pinalangga kong sugbuanon,” he expressed.

Acknowledging the partial election results, Garcia also released a statement conceding the mayoral race.

“We fought a good fight, but in the end, it is the people who make the final judgement,” he said, congratulating Archival and former mayor Tomas Osmeña for a successful campaign.

Meanwhile, incumbent Mayor Mike Rama of Barug gained 116,547 votes.

For the vice mayoralty race, as of 11:00 p.m. with 97% of clustered precincts reporting, Osmeña still leads with 228,312 votes, while current acting vice mayor and basketball star Dondon Hontiveros has 185,599 votes in second place.

Celebrating the current election results, the Carbon-hanong Alyansa, the vendors’ group who protested the Carbon Market modernization in 2022, posted a video on their Facebook page showing jubilant Carbon vendors.

Archival, a staunch ally of the vendors, actively voiced their concerns during his time as a city councilor as he moved to restore the Carbon Market’s zoning classification to institutional in December 2024, sparking a heated debate. 

The motion, however, was defeated by a majority vote.

He stressed that the vendors' primary concern is the security of their livelihoods, which they feared would be at risk once the development began.

Among his platforms are strong support for marginalized sectors, restoring CHAMP Hospitalization Assistance, and strengthening the Department of Manpower Development and Placement (DMDP) to increase job opportunities for Cebuanos.

Archival is an engineer by profession and the founder of Nestor Archival Rescue and Fire Brigade (NARF), and has served as a city councilor as a minority leader under BOPK since 2019.