Losses for Garcia in Cebu, Gullas in Talisay, Osmeña in Cebu City, Espinosa in Toledo

Is the Garcia dynasty over?

A lead of over 150,000 votes with more than half of precincts counted in Cebu province placed Hilario “Junjun” Davide of the Liberal Party way ahead in  the gubernatorial race.

His surge in the official count virtually sealed the defeat of a third Garcia family member eying the Capitol’s no. 1 post that has been held by the clan for 18 years.

Rep. Pablo John Garcia who ran on a campaign promise to continue the 12-point program of his sister suspended Gov. Gwendolyn Garcia fell behind with 413,254 votes against his rival’s 565,373 votes in the partial count.

Other major upsets were achieved in Monday’s mid-term election, some knocking down seemingly impregnable  political veterans:

* In Talisay City, Rep. Eduardo Gullas lost his mayorship bid to a small business, Johnny de los Reyes, by over 700 votes. Gullas, who has never lost an election in his career since 1969, conceded defeat in a brief statement.  (story on page 2)

* In Cebu City, Rep. Tomas Osmeña also lost his mayoralty race with a margin of 6,376 votes to  incumbent Mayor Michael Rama.  Until this election, Osmeña had never lost a political contest from the time he won his first term as mayor in 1988.

* In Toledo City, two decades of the Espinosa clan ended after the father-and-daughter tandem lost to former senator John Henry “Sonny” Osmeña for mayor and Dr. Antonio Yapha for vice mayor.

The 78-year-old former senator chose not to attend his proclamation yesterday to go to Cebu City to prepare an election protest for his councilor candidates.

As of 7 p.m. yesterday, the son of former Chief Justice Hilario Davide Jr. managed to pull a surprise in several Garcia bailiwicks and polled ahead by over 150,000 votes based on the official and partial results posted at the Comelec website.

“I’m grateful to the Lord and to the people who chose me over my rival. The results show that many Cebuanos want change. We managed to score upsets. I believe the people have realized the need for change,” Davide told Cebu Daily News.

When he last ran for Cebu governor in 2010, Davide lost by about 90,000 votes to Gwen Garcia, who is battling with a lead of 4,153 votes for 3rd congressional district seat against LP’s Geraldine Yapha, mayor of Pinamungahan as of 7 p.m.

Of five Garcia family members running for office, two  are falling behind in the count and one lost his race.

Gwen’s father Rep. Pablo Garcia of the 2nd district is lagging behind Wilfredo Caminero of the Liberal Party whose  69,333 votes is over 7,400 more than  Garcia’s.

Pablo’s son Marlon lost the Barili mayoralty based on complete official results which counted his 13,629 votes against Teresito Mariñas, his vice mayor, who received 19,673 votes.

Another son, Nelson, won the mayoralty in Dumanjug town with 14,016 votes as against Cesar Baricuatro’s 10,080 votes.

It’s too early for any formal announcement, but Davide already started  receiving congratulatory messages from supporters.

“All our sacrifice paid off. I know that becoming governor of Cebu is not an easy task. There’s a lot of work ahead. I’ll do my best to serve the people. Our goal is to promote the culture of transparency in our journey to deliver services to the people,” he said.

Davide said the margin was a happy surprise.

“I believe I had a big chance to win despite all the odds. I was hoping to win although not through an overwhelming victory,” he said.

Based on the Comelec count last night, Davide had 565,373  votes while Pablo John got 413,254.

The same pattern showed in the vice gubernatorial race, with LP’s  Agnes Magpale on top with 469,785 votes over businessman Glenn Soco’s  327,734  votes and Ramon “Boboy” Durano’s 143,784 votes.

The Provincial Board of Cavassers will convene again at 8 a.m. today at the Capitol Social Hall.

As of 6 p.m. yesterday, 33 out of 51 localities in Cebu province or 64 % of the municipalities and cities already transmitted their results for canvassing.

Defective Compact Flash (CF) Cards in 15 localities need to be replaced, said Cebu provincial election supervisor Eddie Aba. Aba said they are waiting for the new CF cards from Manila to arrive tomorrow.

“We can’t have a manual counting because we must do the transmissions electronically,” he explained.

Acting Gov. Agnes Magpale yesterday visited the provincial cavassing center twice. Davide dropped by in the afternoon.

LP spokesman and lawyer Democrito Barcenas said an election defeat of at least three of five Garcia candidates would prove that the dynasty is over.

“In a sense, we have toppled the dynasty. The deputy speaker (Pablo) who is very powerful lost. Pablo John lost. Another Garcia aspiring for mayor lost and Gwen is fighting for her political life in the 3rd district,” said Barcenas at the Capitol social hall yesterday.

Barcenas said Cebuanos may also have realized to choose candidates handpicked by President Benigno Aquino III so as to bring about cooperation between Malacanang and the Capitol for the benefit of the province.

Lawyer Rommel Heyrosa, who represented the United Nationalists Alliance (UNA)-One Cebu, was seen at the social hall. Heyrosa, president of the Integrated Bar of the Philippines Cebu province chapter, said they will issue a statement tonight.

“I would say that we are both enjoying a comfortable lead. I think its already a trend. But we don’t have to be complacent,” said Magpale.

Magpale said their battle cry in the LP is “change for the better and more transparency.”

“And the people agreed with us,” she said.

Magpale said the LP headquarters in Manila has been asking about the slow-paced canvassing in Cebu.

“They asked about the senatorial bets of LP in Cebu. They said how come Cebu has yet to send its results when other provinces already made it. I don’t know,” she said.

Out of 51 towns and cities, 18 have yet to transmit their Elections results to the provincial canvassing center as of 7 p.m.: Alcoy, Badian, Balamban, Bogo City, Carcar City, Carmen, Catmon, Compostela, Dalaguete, Danao City, Mandaue City, Naga City, Ronda, San Francisco in Camotes, San Remigio, Sta. Fe. Sibonga, and Tuburan.