Alvin Garcia

Alvin Biaño Garcia (born June 29, 1946) is a Filipino politician and lawyer who served twice as the Mayor of Cebu City from 1995 to 1998 and from 1998 to 2001. He served as the vice mayor of the said city from 1988 to 1995 alongside then mayor Tomas Osmeña. He is also the founder of Kugi Uswag Sugbu (KUSUG), a local political party based in Cebu City.

Alvin Garcia
Mayor of Cebu City
In office June 30, 1995 – June 30, 2001
Vice Mayor	Renato Osmeña Sr.
Preceded by	Tomas Osmeña
Succeeded by	Tomas Osmeña
Vice Mayor of Cebu City
In office February 2, 1988 – June 30, 2015
Preceded by	Joseph Sy Gaisano
Succeeded by	Renato Osmeña Sr.
Personal details
Born	Alvin Biaño Garcia June 29, 1946
Political party	Kugi Uswag Sugbu
Other political affiliations	Bando Osmeña – Pundok Kauswagan (1988–2000)
Profession	Politician, Lawyer

Early life and career

Garcia is the son of Jesus Paras Garcia and Severiana Biaño. His father is the brother of former Cebu Governor Pablo Paras Garcia making him the cousin of current governor Gwendolyn Garcia.[1]

He was admitted to the Philippine Bar on March 10, 1971.[2] He later founded the J.P. Garcia & Associates along with his brother, Jesus Jr.[3][4]

Political career

Vice mayor, 1988–1995

Garcia started his political career as vice mayor to Tomas Osmeña in 1988.[5] Both served for two consecutive terms until Osmeña gave way to Garcia to run as mayor in the 1995 elections.[6] He also served as president of the Vice Mayors' League of the Philippines from 1992 to 1995.[3]

Mayor, 1995–2001

He was first elected as mayor in 1995. He went on to serve for two terms until 2001 when he was defeated by Osmeña, his political mentor, who challenged him in the 2001 elections.[7][8]

The defeat of the Bando Osmeña – Pundok Kauswagan (BO–PK) candidate in the local councilors league election started the rift between Garcia and Osmeña which was then followed by the latter's public criticisms.[9]

Post-mayoral career

In the 2004 elections, Garcia sought to reclaim his old post as mayor[10] but was defeated again by then mayor Osmeña by almost 40,000 votes.[11][12] He declined to run for the same position in the 2007 elections[13] but ran in the 2010 elections after expressing confidence in the automated elections.[14][15] He was once again defeated but this time by then vice mayor Michael Rama who was chosen by Osmeña to succeed him.[16]

When Rama bolted Osmeña's BO–PK group in 2011[17] and sought re-election as mayor, Garcia and his group KUSUG endorsed him, Edgardo Labella as vice mayor, Annabelle Rama as 1st district representative and Aristotle Batuhan as 2nd district representative.[18] Garcia's political group later allied itself with Team Rama (now Partido Barug), a political party formed by Rama.[19]

Garcia ran for the position of representative of Cebu City's 1st district against incumbent Raul del Mar in the 2016 elections but was overwhelmingly defeated by more than 70,000 votes.[20][21]

Controversies

F.E. Zuellig asphalt deal

Garcia was embroiled in a controversy involving F.E. Zuellig, the Philippine distributor of asphalt brand Bitumex, after signing a contract that gave an advance payment to the said company for 600 metric tons of bitumen that was not delivered.[22]

Fair Elections Act violation

In 2006, criminal charges were filed against Garcia by the Commission on Elections for alleged violation of Section 6 of Republic Act No. 9006, otherwise known as the Fair Elections Act, after going over the allowable limit of political advertisement in a newspaper during the 2004 elections.[9] This stemmed from the complaint filed by Osmeña pertaining to the political advertisements that ran in SunStar Cebu from April 26 to May 2, 2004.[23]

Condominium project anomaly

The Office of the Ombudsman in 2013 filed two counts of graft against Garcia for the alleged overpricing of the construction of a condominium project in 1997 when he was serving as mayor.[24] The Sandiganbayan later dismissed the charges against Garcia and members of the Pre-qualification Bids and Awards Committee due to "inordinate delay" that "violated their constitutional right to speedy disposition of cases."[25]

Personal life

Garcia is married to Trinidad "Ninette" Neri Garcia.[1] They have three children namely Jess Anthony, Jerald Mark and Raymond Alvin.[3][26][27][20]

He also has a 5 percent share of SunStar Publishing, Inc., a media company based in Cebu City.[4]

References

1. "Descendants of Garcia ROOT" (PDF). p. 3. Retrieved November 21, 2020.
2. Oaminal, Clarence Paul (December 10, 2014). "Saint Anthony Street, Cebu City". The Freeman. Retrieved November 21, 2020. Vice Mayor Alvin B. Garcia (admitted to the Bar on March 10, 1971, then later elected as Mayor of Cebu City)
3. "Who is Alvin B. Garcia ?". slideshare.net. Headstart Cms. March 9, 2016. Retrieved November 21, 2020.
4. "The Garcia Family". Retrieved November 21, 2020.
5. Pabico, Alecks (March 30, 2007). "Power shift looms in Cebu politics". pcij.org. Philippine Center for Investigative Journalism. Retrieved November 21, 2020.
6. Tundag, Jerry (November 1, 2019). "Mayor vs vice mayor". The Freeman. Retrieved November 21, 2020. In 1988, Tomas Osmeña and Alvin Garcia ran and won as mayor and vice mayor. Osmeña kept the post for two terms then gave way to Garcia.
7. "120 Aspirants Vying For 40 Cebu Positions". The Freeman. March 3, 2001. Retrieved November 21, 2020.
8. Bongcac, Doris (April 24, 2014). "Former Mayor Alvin Garcia to push Waterfront dream project". Cebu Daily News. Retrieved November 21, 2020.
9. Borromeo, Rene (November 8, 2006). "Comelec files raps vs. Alvin Garcia for poll violation". The Philippine Star. Retrieved November 21, 2020.
10. "Garcia plans to run vs Osmeña in '04". The Freeman. May 21, 2003. Retrieved November 21, 2020.
11. Avila, Bobit (May 14, 2004). "Tomas Osmeña wins Cebu City's battle royale!". The Freeman. Retrieved November 21, 2020.
12. "2004 CITY OR MUNICIPALITY ELECTION RESULTS - REGION VII (CENTRAL VISAYAS)". data.gov.ph. Retrieved November 21, 2020.
13. "Alvin announces he is not running". The Freeman. March 8, 2007. Retrieved November 21, 2020.
14. Borromeo, Rene (December 15, 2009). "Kusug fielding Alvin for mayor". The Freeman. Retrieved November 21, 2020.
15. Borromeo, Rene (January 2, 2010). "Cebu City politics in 2010: Revival of animosity". The Freeman. Retrieved November 21, 2020.
16. "BOPK wins landslide in Cebu City". The Freeman. May 13, 2010. Retrieved November 21, 2020.
17. Delos Angeles, Edison; Tabada, Fatrick (June 24, 2011). "Former mayor Alvin declares support as BO-PK still unimpressed". Cebu Daily News. Retrieved November 21, 2020.
18. "Kusug endorses Team Rama bets". Cebu Daily News. March 4, 2013. Retrieved November 21, 2020.
19. Bongcac, Doris (March 6, 2013). "Kusug leaders says coalition with Team Rama negates BO-PK advantage". Cebu Daily News. Retrieved November 21, 2020.
20. Bobby Nalzaro (May 6, 2016). "Alvin and Raymond Garcia". SunStar Cebu. Retrieved November 21, 2020.
21. Bunachita, Jose Santino (May 10, 2016). "Cebu City congressman Raul del Mar reelected". Retrieved November 21, 2020.
22. "COA raps Cebu City mayor, 8 executives". The Freeman. May 5, 2000. Retrieved November 21, 2020.
23. Mayol, Ador Vincent (February 24, 2016). "Alvin pleads not guilty to election charges". Cebu Daily News. Retrieved November 21, 2020.
24. Alvarez, Kathrina (June 26, 2013). "Ombudsman files graft charges vs. ex-mayor". SunStar Cebu. Retrieved November 21, 2020.
25. Braga, Michael Vencynth (December 30, 2016). "City Condominium Project: Sandigan junks graft case vs Garcia". The Freeman. Retrieved November 21, 2020.
26. "Setting the record straight". The Philippine Star. May 21, 2008. Retrieved November 21, 2020. He is Jess Anthony Neri Garcia, the eldest son of former Cebu City Mayor Alvin Garcia, younger brother of Sonny.
27. "Rapid test a strategic move for community". SunStar Cebu. May 4, 2020. Retrieved November 21, 2020. Dr. Jerald Mark Garcia graduated suma cum laude from the University of Minnesota, finished Medicine at the University of Minnesota Medical School, and trained and did his fellowship in Interventional Pain Medicine at Case Western University in Cleveland, Ohio. He is the son of former Cebu City mayor Alvin Garcia and wife Ninette.